^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


Vx 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


ll; 

r    !M0 


M 

2.2 
20 

1.8 


1.4 


1.6 


V] 


.^> 


w 


>^. 


°>f  ;> 


^^^  ' 

^m 


/A 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  ST  REE': 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


i 


i? 


^    C<'< 


C/u 


A 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions 


Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
wvhich  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


r~7i  Colo 

bJJ    Couv 


D 


D 
D 


D 


□ 


ured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


r~7\    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pai  6t6  film^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


n 

n 
n 

D 
D 

a 


n 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur6es  et/ou  pelliculdes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color§es,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Compnend  du  materiel  supplementaire 


I      I    Only  edition  available/ 


Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  faqon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  re  uction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


J 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grSce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationals  du  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet6  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  'Tipres- 
sion,  and  ending  on  the  last  page  witn  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  film^s  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  ^^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  —t^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  §tre 
film^s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
iliustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

,/ 


"AMinsofkniw!  ige."    Price  25  Cts 


»»»WW»»»<WW»»»WWW^W^WW^<I^W^^W»»MW^Wf<* 


.'l^»WI<WW»W»»W%»»»W»WW^^^WWW^(IW>M*WWW^W»»»<WWW»<^^ 


^  -^v 


DIKE 

* . 

AND 
ALL 
BOUT     . 


*;? 


I 

i 
I 


I 


Alaska  and  its  Hoarcn'^d '«    ^    res. 

How  to  Get  to  KL-njik*        ;    v 

Outfit,  Clothes,  roovi.  k-\' 

How  the  Cnid  <?o^  There: 

How  to  Get  The  Oc^ld,  '      k  ^^ 

ds  of  M  m^^'  ^ 

f  Unlt-.d' fKSii.es  ;   -J  Canada. 


! 


{  Siberian  M 
I  Mining  Lav 
I    Map  of  Ala^ 


/#^  ExCELSic  UUif  HliiG    HOUSE, 

T         CAr  .  GO.-  Proprietors, 

H£W  YORK. 


f 


Ti 


A  /  u 


^'^mm^Fmmim 


c: 


^W''V       4 


^f^f^^^.    f  .^c     ' 


--^(f 


\ 


*7 


I 

* 


NO.  48.  I         EXCELSIOR  LIBRARY    1  Utu»d  Quart.riy 
Aug.,  1897.1  or  POPULAR  HAMOBOOKS        |  Sub.  |l .  p«r  Yr. 


KLONDIKE 


..AND.. 


^ 


ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


<W»W<»<»»WWW<WW(WWWWWW»»»» 


BY 


AJPractical  fllning  Engineer. 


New  York: 

EXCEI.SIOR   PUBUSHING   HOUSR, 

T.  J.  Carey  &  Co  ,  Proprietors, 

26  City  Hall  Place. 


Entered  at  the  Post  Office.  New  York.  N  Y.,  as  SecondClasa 
Matter,  March  8d,  1H96. 


I 


Copyright,  1897, 
By  T.  J.  CARKY  &  CO 


1 


CONTENTS. 


Paoi. 
.       5 


Alaska  and  its  Hoarded  Treasures,  . 
How  to  Get  to  Klondike, 
Outfit,  Clothes,  Food,  Expenses, 
How  the  Gold  Got  There,      . 
How  to  Get  the  Gr  id, 
Siberian  Methods  of  Mining, 

Mining  Laws  of  Canada  and  United  States,   .  64 

Weight  and  Value  of  Gold,      ....  78 

Uncle  Sam's  Wealth, ^q 

Latest  Letters  from  Klondike,          ...  81 

Additional  Facts,   .        .  o^ 

'  "  •  •  •  .  o4 


15 

18,  44,  48 

49 

.    51 

56 


KLONDIKE 


AND   ALL   ABOUT    IT. 


ALASKA. 

Alaska  is  a  country  which  embraces  a 
vast  territory.  The  mainland  is  estimated 
to  contain  an  area  of  580,000  square  miles, 
while  the  islands  of  the  Alexandrian  Archi- 
pelago contain  31,200  square  miles  and 
the  Aleutian  Islands  6,400  square  miles,  a 
grand  total  of  617,600  square  miles.  The 
mainland  has  an  extent,  north  and  south, 
of  over  1,000  miles,  while  Altu,  the  last 
island  of  the  Aleutian  group,  is  2,000  miles 
west  of  Sitka,  The  longitude  of  Altu  is 
as  many  degrees  west  of  Seattle  as  East- 
port,   Me.,   is  degrees  east.     When    the 


I 


'  KLONDIKE 

fisherman  of  Maine  is  getting  np  for 
breakfast  the  fisherman  of  Altu  is  gettinjf 
ready  to  go  to  bed. 

A  range  of  high  mountains,  covered  with 
snow  and  seamed  with    glaciers    which 
push  their  feet  int«  salt  water,  runs  paral- 
lei  with  the  coast  and  divides  the  country 
into  two  unequal  parts-the  narrow  coast 
strip,  with  islands  and  a  moist  climate, 
where  zero  weather  is  rare,  and  the  vast 
interior,   where  the    thermometer  ha^  a 
range  of  180°. 

The  coast  region  is  accessible  at  all  sea- 
sons hy  ocean  vessels.  All  the  principal 
settlements  are  on  the  coast.  During  the 
summer  a  large  number  of  tourists  visit 
Sitka,  Juneau,  and  the  glaciers. 

Alaska  was  purchased  from  Russia  in 
1867  at  a  cost  of  $7,200,000-less  than  two 
cents  an  acre.  It  has  ak-eady  paid  for 
itself  by  royalties  from  the  Fur  Sealing 
Company,  not  to  speak  of  the  salmon  in- 
dustry, which  has  yielded  more  than  the 
purchase  price,  while  the  Treadwell  Gold 


I 


P 


AND  ALL  ABOUT   IT. 


I 


Mill,  on  Douglas  Island,  has  given  to  the 
world  in  gold  more  than  the  original  cost 
of  tne  country. 

Juneau  is  the  metropolis  of  Alaska  and 
the  outfitting  point  for  the  Yukon  region, 
ab  it  also  is  for  the  gold  region  r»^  the 
coast.  It  was  founded  in  1880,  and  nan:  nl 
in  honor  of  Joseph  Juneau,  who  firs^  fourul 
gold  on  Douglas  Island,  two  miles  awity, 
where  the  famous  Tread  well  Quart,z  Mill 
(the  largest  in  the  world)  is  located.  The 
ore  is  low  grade,  averaging  ahout  $3.50  a 
ton,  but  it  is  easily  worked,  and  during 
1895  gave  a  profit  to  its  owners  of  about 
$500,000.  Juneau  is  a  progressive  city, 
with  fine  buildings  and  stores,  substantial 
wharves,  water  works,  electric  lights, 
banks,  hotels,  newspapers,  schools,  and 
churches.     Sitka  is  the  capital. 

The  great  interior  of  Alaska  is  accessible 
less  than  half  of  the  year,  and  then  with 
much  difficulty  and  hardship.  The  mighty 
basin  of  the  Yukon,  which  comprises  two- 
thirds  of  the  entire  Territory,  is  one  of  the 


8 


KLONDIKE 


most  remarkable  regions  in  the  world. 
Were  it  not  for  this  great  artery — which 
goes  pulsating  for  over  2,000  miles  in  the 
Northwest,  bidding  defiance,  through  the 
influence  of  the  summer  sun,  to  the  Frost 
King  who  stands  on  either  side  with  his 
ice  and  snow — the  world  would  never 
know  of  the  wealth  of  the  interior.  The 
Yukon  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Pelly  and  Lewis  rivers — the  former  600 
miles  long  and  the  latter  360.  From  Fort 
Selkirk  (at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers) 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  the  distance  is 
2,044  miles,  and  the  way  is  navigable  for 
flat-bottom  steamers  of  four  or  five  hun- 
dred tons. 

From  Fort  Selkirk  the  Yukon  flows  400 
miles  northwest,  touching  the  Arctic  Cir- 
cle, and  then  southwest  for  1 ,600  miles  to 
Behring  Sea.  It  is  sixty  miles  wide  at  its 
mouth,  and  so  shallow  that  ocean  vessels 
cannot  enter.  Along  its  banks  flowers 
bloom  in  the  summer  and  birds  sing  in  the 
trees,  but  in  September  the  frost  comes, 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


9 


and  soon  the  whole  country  is  covered 
with  snow,  the  rivers  become  ice,  and  the 
thermometer  drops  to  60°  and  80^  below 
zero.  There  are  a  good  many  Indians 
living  along  the  river,  who  subsist  on 
game  and  fish.  Missionaries  are  at  work 
at  several  points ;  at  Circle  City  there  are 
two  hundred  communicants  belonging  to 
one  mission.  Fossils  of  the  mammoth  and 
other  gigantic  animals  are  found  along 
the  Yukon.  The  navigable  tributaries  of 
the  Yukon  are  the  Lewis,  Pelly,  Stewart, 
Tahkenna,  Hootahnqua,  Porcupine,  Tan- 
nana,  Anvik,  White,  Birch,  Salmon,  and 
others,  to  the  extent  of  several  thousand 
miles. 


NATURE  S   HOARDED    TREASURES. 

(From  the  Alaska  Mining  Record, 
January,  1897.) 

The  very  small  portion  of  Alaska  which 
has  thus  far  been  prospected  for  quartz  lies 
entirely  along  the  southeastern  coast  and 
never  more  than  three  miles  from  navi- 


10 


KLONDIKE 


gable-tide  water.  Back  of  this  very  nar- 
row strip  the  vast  region  is  a  veritable 
terra  incognita  so  far  as  its  leads,  lodes, 
and  ledges  are  concerned.  True,  the 
miner  has  penetrated  the  far  interior,  and 
auriferous  rock  has  been  found  there,  but 
it  has  invariably  been  passed  by  as  being 
an  impracticable  proposition;  yet  there  it 
ftes,  awaiting  only  the  process  of  develop- 
ment to  add  its  golden  riches  to  the  trea- 
sure of  the  world,  while  the  prospector, 
searching  only  for  the  nuggets  and  coarse 
dust  which  he  may  at  once  carry  with  him 
out  of  the  wilderness,  has  paid  no  attention 
to  that  which  may  not  be  readily  gath- 
ered, or,  observing  it,  has  given  it  no  heed 
in  his  quest  for  the  immediately  profitable 
placer  ground.  The  utter  absence  of 
roads  and  trails,  and  the  great  difficulty 
to  be  found  building  them  through  the 
wild  mountain  fastnesses  and  dense  vege- 
tation of  their  rugged  sides,  have  confined 
the  operations  of  the  quartz  prospector, 
and  hence  of  his  sujccessor,  the  developing 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


11 


r- 

[e 

?, 
e 

I 


purchaser,  to  that  very  limited  strip  which 
lies  within  easy  access  to  tide-water. 

This  strip,  however,  has  already  en- 
tirely fulfilled  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions, has  developed  fortunes,  and  yet  is 
scarcely  touched.  Side  by  side  with  de- 
veloped properties,  from  which  gold  is 
being  taken  in  surprising  amounts,  lie 
tracts  whereon  the  foot  of  the  prospector 
has  never  trodden;  hills  and  mountains 
which  can  but  be  rich  ir  the  precious  ores, 
yet  awaiting  the  patient  and  intelligent 
search  which  has  been  often  richly  re- 
warded, and  which  shall  meet  further  and 
greater  reward  whenever  and  wherever 
upon  this  coast  it  shall  be  diligently  prose- 
cuted and  when  development  shall  expose 
the  hidden  riches  of  this  treasure  house  of 
Nature.  This  strip  includes  also  the  thou- 
sands of  islands  which  line  the  coast,  and 
upon  them  are  located  many  of  the  richest 
of  the  developed  properties,  as  well  as 
many  of  the  most  promising  prospects  in 
Alaska,  many  of  which  are  being  looked 


li'! 


12  KLONDIKE 

up  and  bonded  by  capitalists  with  a  view 
to  investment. 

THE  YEARLY  OUTPUT  OP  GOLD. 

The  output  of  the  mines  of  Alaska  is 
difficult  of  estimation.    The  vastness  of 
the  mining  territory,  the  extremely  migra- 
tory characteristic  of  its  population,  and 
the  entire  absence  of  reports  and  statistics 
from  a  great  part  of  the  smaller  camps 
render  it  a  very  difficult  matter  to  arrive 
at  a  statement  approximating  correctness, 
except  by  careful  study  and  watchful  at- 
tention to  every  detail.     The  following  es- 
timate is  the  result  of  just  such  work,  and 
is  believed  to  be  as  nearly  correct  as  is 
possible  and  still  represent  fully,  yet  con- 
servatively,   the   production    of   gold    in 
Alaska  during  189G: 

Total  output  of  quartz  mines $2,355,000 

Lituya  Bay  placer  mines 15  qqq 

Cook  Inlet  placer  mines 175,000 

Birch  Creek  district,  Yukon  mines. , . .    *  1  300000 
Other  Yukon  districts goO^OOO 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


13 


From  several  small  creeks  in  various 
parts  of  the  Territory,  worked  by  ar- 
rastres $25,000 


Total  output 14,670,000 

This  is  an  increase  over  1895  of  $1,670,- 
000.  At  the  same  time  the  number  of 
new  discoveries  which  promise  well  has 
been  great.  These  will  be  more  or  less 
productive  during  the  next  year,  and  a 
corresponding  increase  is  assured. 

The  mining  population  has  wonderfully- 
increased  during  1896,  and  the  present 
year  opens  with  promise  of  unprecedented 
immigration.  Over  11,000  people  came  to 
Alaska  last  year,  and  of  those  who  took 
their  departure  at  the  approach  of  winter 
a  great  number  have  expressed  their  in- 
tention to  returii.  These,  with  the  num- 
ber who  will  visit  Alaska  for  the  first  time 
in  the  spring,  will  swell  the  number  to  a 
total  far  beyond  that  of  any  previous  sea- 
son. The  great  majority  will  come  to 
seek  fortune  in  the  mines,  and,  if  properly 


14 


KLONDIKE 


distributed  throughout  the  country,will  ad- 
vance its  development  greatly.  The  great 
area  of  Alaska  will  afford  profitable  fields 
for  an  incalculable  number,  but  the  danger 
of  overcrowding  a  particular  district 
should  not  be  underestimated.  Last  sea- 
son's rush  to  the  Inlet  may  be  taken  as 
a  complete  demonstration  of  this  fact. 
While  in  Alaska  there  is  ample  prospect- 
ing ground  for  thousands  more  than  will 
ever  undertake  its  occupancy,  it  cannot  be 
expected  all  can  prosper  within  the  bounds 
of  any  district.  There  is  little  ground  in 
Southeastern  Alaska  which  will  not  repay 
careful  prospecting.  All  the  choice  spots 
have  by  no  means  been  found  or  located, 
nor  do  they  lie  within  the  confines  of  any 
section,  but  are  liberally  scattered  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  the  vast 
domain  of  the  great  Northwest.  Here, 
as  throughout  the  mining  regions  of  the 
world,  careful  work  reaps  the  richest  re- 
ward, and  thorough  search  over  a  reason- 
ably limited  space  is  worth  years  of  almost 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


15 


aimless  wanderings  looking  for  fortunes 
in  nuggets  already  panned  out  and  await- 
ing only  the  picking  up.  Mining  is  a 
business  which  can  be  more  advantageous- 
ly carried  on  in  Alaska  than  in  many 
more  favored  places,  but  it  must  be  prose- 
cuted intelligently  or  failure  is  certain. 
The  bitter  disappointments  of  the  past 
should  prove  a  fund  of  instruction  to  those 
who  contemplate  coming  to  Alaska;  but 
to  the  practical  and  experienced  miner  or 
prospector  there  need  come  no  fear  that 
his  coming  will  be  in  vain. 


THE   YUKON    ALL-WATER   ROUTE. 

Various  lines  of  steamers  leave  Seattle 
which  will  take  one  all  the  way  to  the  Yu- 
kon Gold  Fields  by  water.  These  steamers 
leave  Seattle,  sailing  out  upon  the  Pacific 
Ocean  through  Dutch  Harbor  of  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  into  Behring  Sea,  and 
thence  to  St.  Michael's,  an  island  in  Nor- 
ton Sound.  The  distance  from  Seattle  to 
St,  Michael's  is  2,850  miles  and  takes  about 


16 


KLONDIKE 


il  I 


m 


fifteen  days  of  steamer  travel.  Arriving  at 
St.  Michael's,  one  has  to  change  from  the 
seagoing  vessel  to  a  flat-bottom  steamer  to 
ascend  the  Yukon  to  Circle  City.  St.  Mi- 
chael's to  Circle  City  is  1,500  miles,  and 
one  can  count  on  its  taking  ten  days. 

The  Yukon  is  navigable  only  during  the 
summer  season.  Later  than  August  15th 
the  chances  are  against  one's  being  able  to 
ascend  it,  as,  with  the  cold  weather  o^ 
fall  and  winter,  the  snows  cease  to  melt 
and  the  water  becomes  too  low  for  navi- 
gation, and  still  later  it  becomes  blocked 
with  ice.  A  severe  winter  and  late  spring 
are  looked  for  the  coming  year,  and  it  is 
extremely  doubtful  if  the  Yukon  will  be 
open  before  June  1st. 

It  would  be  folly  to  attempt  to  name 
the  steamship  lines  running  from  Seattle 
to  St.  Michael's,  or  from  St.  Michael's  to 
Circle  City,  as  new  lines  are  starting  up 
daily.  The  new  companies  that  are  being 
incorporated  to  run  steamers  and  boats  of 
all  kinds  next  spring,  assure  one  that  they 


'•^i: 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


17 


need  hardly  fear  that  transportation  facili- 
ties will  not  be  ample,  even  for  the  enor- 
mous rush  of  people  boimd  Klondike- 
ward. 

OVERLAND  ROUTE. 

'  The  first  hundred  miles  over  this  route 
is  accomplished  by  steam  navigation  from 
Juneau  to  Dyea  ;  the  next  stage  is  made 
by  canoe  and  sleigh,  or,  if  preferred,  by 
pack  train,  twenty-seven  miles  to  Lake 
Linderman,  where  boats  are  built  in  which 
the  downstream  journey  is  continued  to 
completion. 

WHEN   TO   START. 

Parties  should  start  from  Juneau  be- 
tween the  middle  of  March  and  end  of 
April,  as  they  can  then  do  their  own  trans- 
porting on  sleighs  across  the  summit  and 
down  the  lakes  to  where  good  timber  for 
boat-building  is  to  be  found,  and  the  start 
down  the  river  made  when  the  ice  breaks, 
which  is  much  earlier  than  on  the  lakes, 
and  the  mines  may  be  reached  a  month 
sooner  than  if  the  boats  are  built  on  the 


18 


KLONDIKE 


!i 


lakes  and  a  wait  made  for  the  ice  to  break 
up  there.  Four  or  five  men  should  compose 
each  party,  as  one  tent,  stove,  set  of  tools, 
etc.,  will  suffice  for  all.  One  of  the  party 
should  have  a  knowledge  of  boat-building, 
for  it  is  an  absolute  necessity  that  the 
craft  shall  be  staunch  and  substantial. 
The  double-ended  batteau  is  the  pattern 
ordinarily  preferred,  though  the  plain 
scow  of  good  depth  is  more  easily  built 
and  can  be  depended  upon.  No  man 
should  attempt  the  journey  alone. 

OUTFITS. 

Juneau  merchants  make  a  specialty  of 
this  trade,  know  exactly  what  is  wanted 
and  how  it  should  be  put  up.  An  outfit 
depends  much  upon  the  purse  and  taste  of 
the  purchaser,  and  will  cost  from  $50  to 
$150.  Experience  has  proved  the  follow- 
ing to  be  essentials : 

Flour,  50  pounds  ;  baking  powder,  1^ 
pounds ;  dried  fruit,  15  pounds ;  bacon 
(side),  20  pounds  ;  beans,  35  pounds  j  su-. 


-iw^ 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


19 


gar  (loaf),  10  pounds  ;  coffee,  3  pounds ; 
tea,  1  pound  ;  salt,  3  pounds ;  pepper,  ^ 
pound  ;  desiccated  onions,  1  pound ; 
matches,  3  bunches ;  butter,  milk,  rice, 
corn  meal,  etc.  (optional). 

Two  pairs  of  heavy  woollen  socks,  1  pair 
Canadian  laragans  or  shoe  packs,  1  pair 
German  socks,  2  pairs  heaviest  woollen 
blankets,  1  oil  blanket  or  canvas,  1  Mack- 
inaw suit,  2  heavy  flannel  shirts,  2  pairs 
heavy  overalls,  2  suits  heavy  woollen 
underwear,  1  pair  gum  boots  (Golden 
Seal,  crack-proof,  preferable),  1  pair  snow 
shoes,  1  pair  snow  glasses,  cap,  mittens, 
mosquito  netting,  etc. 

One  8x10  wall  tent  (8  ounce  duck  or 
heavy  drill),  1  small  Yukon  stove,  3 
lengths  telescope  pipe,  1  large  frying  pan, 
1  baking  pan,  1  8-quart  granite  kettle,  1 
G-quart  granite  kettle,  1  8-quart  bread  pan, 
1  coffee  pot,  1  granite  plate,  1  granite  cup, 
1  large  mixing  spoon,  1  knife,  fork,  and 
spoon,  3^-pound  axe,  nails,  hammer,  saws. 


'  I  '1 


li'l 


so 


KLONDIKE 


Juneau  is  reached  from  Pu^„t  q„      , 
Po-sb,,ourto..stea.e/:arh\f:r 
«i  rates  at  Juneau  are  from  $1  to  t9  n 

-vey  Of  this  route  Ta's  ever  be^/T 
^nt  the  following  table  ordistnj;   ' 

eeprefull,  estimated  andtaTprar 
fcal  purposes  will  be  found  correct : 

WSTANCES  PROM  ,„„e^„ 

To  Haines  (Chilkat)  ""«»■ 

"Headofcan«,„,,;g,;r„-; 80 

Sum„„t„fChilkootPa«s..        ,,! 

Lake  Linderman  Landing  "; 

Head  of  Lake  Bennett         '''' 

'  Boundary  line  bet.  B  c'&Nw't'  '^^ 

■  Foot  of  Lake  Bennett  •'^••"» 

Foot  Of  Caribou  crosaing'.;;.;.; ''^ 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT.  2i 

Mile». 
To  Foot  of  Takou  Lake 175 

"  Takish  House 179 

*'   Head  of  Mud  Lake 180 

"   Foot  of  Lake  Marsh 200 

"   Head  of  Caflon 225 

"   Head  of  White  Horse  Rapids 228 

"  Takheena  River 240 

"   Head  of  Lake  Le  Barge 250 

"   Foot  of  Lake  Le  Barge 287 

"   Hootalinqua 320 

*'  Cassiar  Bar 347 

•'   Little  Salmon  River 390 

"   Five  Fingers ,.  452 

"   I'elly  River f>io 

'*  Stewart  River 630 

•'   Forty  Mile  Creek 750 

OTHER  DISTANCES. 

To  Sitka 160 

"  Wrangell    148 

"   Seattle 899 

•*  San  Francisco 1596 

The  following  information  regarding 
the  trip  from  Juneau  to  the  Yukon  is 
taken  from  the  Alaska  Searchlight,  Jan- 
uary, 1895: 


ii   '■ 


22 


mi 


"iit 


KLOJ^DIKE 


The  miner  of  4  j    7 
''"""''•y  for  a  rep  ;S!/.°°'^^  *«  '^e  Yukon 

^'o.g  that  river  andf  "'"'''■    ^iat 

teries  there  are  miU;         '""»«'-ous  tribu- 
r''^--'^^  or  S7;i^°''- hidden 

''-'^^t.     For  severaT  ''  "=""   "«  «« 

venturesome  of  ou!   '       '  *''  '""'•^  -<1- 
^een  going  to  that  M  J   """  "^'"^''^  tave 
^orty  Mile  Creel     m  '  °'  ''^^  ^"'''th- 
'•et"rned,aftero„eorw°''''''^^'»i«ve 
'^^'•e  the  richer  1°  ''««°''«'«ojour„ 

'^--'-ot  it  ;:ra:7^P---oe;  others' 
*lves  snug  little  fort?"  '^^'^  '°'  *he«. 
°"'«^«  -re  winter7rr'""'"'^°"«and 

S'^'i  lucic  for  vvhicTTh      1"^  "'^«  *hat 
waited.  ^"'^  *hey  have  so  long 

^ay  after  dav  an- 

:f;-7-toii^c;sn:r:--^ 

°'d  water  courses  of  tu  ^^  ^"""^  -nd 

'  the,r  numbers  in- 


AND  ALL   ABOUT  IT. 


23 


creased,  and  every  fall  a  larger  quantity 
of  gold  finds  its  way  to  the  mints,  and 
every  spring  the  Alaskan  steamers  bring 
several  hundreds  to  join  the  fortune-hunt- 
ers of  the  interior.  Forty  Mile  being  the 
objective  point  of  all  going  to  the  Yukon 
gold-fields. 

Juneau  is  the  outfitting  point,  the  head 
of  regular  steamboat  navigation  during 
the  winter  and  spring  months.  Here  all 
persons  leave  the  steamers  which  have 
brought  them  from  Sound  ports  or  Vic 
toria.  The  town  is  well  supplied  with 
hotels  and  restaurants,  where  good  board 
can  be  had  for  a  dollar  a  day,  lodgings 
extra.  Here  outfits  are  purchased  for  the 
journey  in,  and  they  must  be  selected  and 
put  up  with  care,  for  more  than  seven 
hundred  miles  stretch  their  weary  length 
between  Juneau  and  Forty  Mile.  The 
market  here  offers  everything  necessary, 
of  goad  quality  and  at  reasonable  prices; 
the  mercliants  understand  the  trade  and 
will  select  and  put  up  an  outfit,  large  or 


w 


24 


If 


i'i 


'imu 


^m ' 


KLONDIKE 


''lua  to  the  merchant      Th«  ^^  ^ 

X,  -^  fe^^Q-Hy  exceed  this      Arv. 

for  the  work  requireri     o  ""^  ^^^t  fitted 

^or  building  a  birt:r;:r'^"'"^"^ 

"'othing,  including  "rboo?  T"'^"^ 
and  provision,  f     «  **'  Wankets, 

from   JuneL  4   lur  Sir^""'^' 
"-•ossing  the  coL  T  °*  "'"*««' 

through  as  Jr  ^'  °^  mountains 

ugn  as  many   passes— the  Dv«, 
Clulkoot  pass,  the  Chilkat  Mo      ' 
White  pass,  and  Takou      .    °       '  "'  *" 
i«  the  only  na,,  .       ,  "^^  '"^^  ^fhilkoot 

this  route  Sr  J        °  ""^ ''"''''''''' - 
the  miner  will  select.     From 


,     !     I 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


25 


Juneau  to  the  summit  of  the  Chilkoot  pass 
is  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
miles.  Small  steamers  ply  irregularly 
between  here  and  Dyea,  the  head  of  navi- 
gation, a  hundred  miles  northwest  of 
Juneau.  During  the  early  spring  these 
boats  usually  sail  a  day  or  two  after  the 
arrival  of  the  mail  steamers  from  the 
Sound.  The  trip  in  good  weather  is  made 
in  twelve  hours  if  there  is  no  towing  to  be 
done,  and  the  regular  fare  is  ten  dollars, 
each  passenger  furnishing  his  own  blank- 
ets and  provisions.  If  the  party  is  a  large 
one  with  considerable  baggage,  a  scow  is 
loaded  with  the  miners'  outfits;  if  the 
tides  are  high  the  boat  sometimes  goes 
over  the  bar  at  the  head  of  Douglas  island, 
thus  saving  nearly  twenty  miles  of  travel, 
besides  avoiding  the  rough  waters  of  the 
Takous.  If  the  tides  are  not  high  the 
scow  may  be  towed  over  the  bar  by  the 
little  tug  Julia,  and  the  steamboat  will 
take  its  course  around  the  lower  end  of 
Douglas.      In  rounding  the  point  of  the 


'  I 


;  : 


V: 


i  ! 


I  i:'!l  ; 


11! 

!«'!■ 
I' 

11'  : 
II' 


;  I 


iitr  \ 


4\ 


I 


26 


KLONDIKE 


island  the  vessel  is  often  subjected  to  the 
fierce  winds  which  sweep  down  the  valley 
of  the  Takou  River.  If  there  is  a  strong 
north  or  northwest  wind,  like  a  demon  it 
comes  roaring  out  from  the  Takou,  lash- 
ing the  water  into  foam  in  its  rage,  and 
tossing  volumes  of  spray  clear  over  the 
top  of  Grand  Island.  When  the  steamer 
has  come  around  to  the  head  of  the  island 
it  takes  the  scow  in  tow,  and  in  about 
twenty  hours  from  the  time  of  leaving  it 
enters  the  mouth  of  the  Dyea  River  near 
Chilkoot — the  salt-water  journey  is  ended. 
Here  on  a  sandspit,  about  a  mile  below 
Healy  &  Wilson^s  trading  posts,  the  out- 
fits are  taken  from  the  scow  and  piled 
up  on  the  beach.  Each  man  must  look 
out  for  himself  now — the  guardianship  of 
your  baggage  by  any  carrying  company 
is  ended.  Juneau  is  nearly  a  hundred 
miles  behind  you.  Immediately  in  the 
foreground  is  the  ranch  and  store  owned 
by  Healy  &  Wilson,  and  beyond  in  their 
mantles  of  snow  rise  the  coast  mountains, 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


27 


i 


cold  and  severe,  striking  a  feeling  of  dread 
into  many  a  heart;  and  beyond  this  frozen 
barrier  there  stretches  away  hundreds  of 
miles  the  vast  country  of  the  Yukon,  an 
expanse  so  wide  that  it  is  limited  only 
by  the  extent  of  man's  endurance.  But 
haste  must  be  made  in  the  sorting  of  out- 
fits and  getting  them  above  tide-water. 
Most  miners  camp  nearby  in  the  edge  of 
the  woods,  perhaps  taking  one  or  two 
meals  at  the  trading  post,  which  can  be 
had  at  the  price  of  fifty  cents  each;  others 
find  both  board  and  lodgng  there  until 
they  are  ready  to  push  on. 

Now  for  the  first  time  the  miner  begins 
to  size  up  his  belongings,  and  begins  to 
reaUze  that  a  proper  outfit  for  a  trip  of 
this  kind  is  the  result  of  experience;  and 
the  longer  he  has  been  in  this  country  and 
the  more  thoroughly  he  knows  it,  just  so 
much  more  care  is  used  in  the  selection 
and  packing  of  his  outfit.  A  careful  and 
thorough  examination  should  be  made  to 
see  that  nothing  has  been  lost  or  forgot- 


1 

i       1 

1        1 

i   1 
■   1 

1 

, 

j 

;m 

r . 

1 

- '  1 ' 
J:' 

< 

i  (  ■ 

1  i . 

I'' 

28 


KLONDIKE 


ten.  There  is  his  Yukon  sleigh,  without 
which  further  progress  would  be  well- 
nigh  impossible — a  skeleton  affair  made 
from  the  best  hard  wood  and  shod  with 
ground  steel  runners.  It  is  seven  feet 
three  inches  long  and  sixteen  inches  wide 
— just  the  proper  width  to  track  behind 
snowshoes — and  its  cost  from  seven  to 
fourteen  dollars.  Steel  is  preferable  to 
iron  for  the  shoes,  as  it  slides  more  easily- 
through  the  fine,  dry  snow  one  finds  in 
the  early  spring.  No  outfit  is  complete 
without  snowshoes,  tent,  blankets  or  fur 
robes,  besides  tools  for  boat-building  and 
plenty  of  provisions;  and  now  an  ingen- 
ious little  sheet-iron  stove  has  come  to  be 
almost  an  indispensable  luxury.  An  or- 
dinary outfit  will  weigh  about  four  hun- 
dred pounds  to  the  man,  although  some 
have  been  taken  in  which  would  tip  the 
scales  at  fifteen  hundred  weight.  Such 
large  outfits  are  no  longer  necessary  or 
advisable,  as  competition  between  the 
trading  companies  at  Forty  Mile  has  so 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


29 


reduced  prices  that  it  does  not  pay  to 
take  in  more  than  a  generous  allowance 
for  the  journey,  as  it  is  easier  to  buy  the 
provisions  for  the  season's  prospecting 
there.  If  anything  is  lacking  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  this  post  is  the  last  store 
until  the  Yukon  is  reached.  Unless  the 
weather  is  stormy,  one  night  is  all  that  is 
spent  in  camp  here,  and  in  the  morning 
the  outfit  is  moved  ahead.  Unless  it  is 
very  small,  this  must  be  done  in  sections, 
and  it  is  necessary  to  "  double-trip"  it,  in 
miner's  parlance — that  is,  make  two  or 
more  loads  of  the  outfit,  moving  a  part 
ahead  to  some  point,  then  unloading  it 
and  returning  for  the  rest.  On  leaving 
Healy  &  Wilson's  with  the  last  sleigh 
load,  one  bids  farewell  to  hotels,  restau- 
rants, steamboats,  and  stores — in  fact,  to 
civilization — and  is  a  "  free  man"  to  pur- 
sue his  course  how  and  where  he  will;  be- 
yond all  conventionalities  of  society,  and 
practically  beyond  all  law  so  far  as  it  is 
the  outgrowth  of  organized  government. 


j|il|iMl 


i 


30 


KLONDIKE 


Going  up  the  Dyea  River  five  miles  on 
the  ice  will  bring  one  to  the  mouth  of  the 
canon.  Here  in  the  woods  a  comfortable 
camp  can  be  easily  arranged.  The  tent 
is  pitched  on  top  of  the  snow,  the  poles 
and  pins  being  pushed  down  into  it. 
While  some  are  busily  engaged  in  build- 
ing a  fire  and  making  a  bed,  the  best  cook 
of  the  party  prepares  the  supper.  If  you 
have  no  stove  a  camp  fire  must  be  built, 
either  on  an  exposed  point  of  rock  or  in  a 
hole  dug  down  in  the  snow;  if  you  have  a 
stove  it  can  be  quickly  arranged  on  a 
"gridiron"  inside  the  tent,  the  gridiron 
consisting  of  three  poles  some  six  or  eight 
feet  lon^,  and  laid  on  the  snow,  on  which 
the  stove  is  placed.  The  heat  from  the 
stove  will  soon  melt  a  hole  underneath, 
but  there  will  be  enough  firm  snow  under 
the  ends  of  the  poles  to  hold  it  up.  For 
the  bed,  hemlock  brush  is  cut  and  laid  on 
the  snow  to  a  depth  of  a  foot  or  more,  and 
this  is  covered  with  a  large  square  of  can- 
vas on  which  the  blankets  and  robes  are 


I 


!5« 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


31 


put;  when  finished  it  forms  a  natural 
spring  bed,  which  will  offer  grateful  rest 
after  hauling  a  sled  all  day. 

Dyea  Canon  is  about  two  miles  long 
and  perhaps  fifty  feet  wide.  A  boat  can- 
not go  through  it,  but  in  the  early  spring 
miners  go  through  on  the  ice,  bridging 
with  poles  the  dangerous  places  or  open- 
ings. After  the  ice  breaks  up  it  is  neces- 
sary to  go  over  the  trail  on  the  east  side  of 
the  canon.  This  trail  was  built  by  Cap- 
tain Healy  at  his  own  expense,  but  is  little 
used,  as  most  miners  go  through  the 
canon  before  the  ice  breaks  up.  The 
camping  place  beyond  the  canon  is  a 
strip  of  woods  some  three  miles  long, 
known  as  Pleasant  Camp.  Its  name  is 
something  of  a  misnomer,  for  there  is  not 
even  a  log  shanty  there;  some  woods  to 
give  a  kind  of  shelter,  and,  as  everywhere 
else  along  the  route,  plenty  of  snow. 

From  here  the  ascent  is  gradual,  and  the 
next  and  last  camp  in  timber  before  cross- 
ing the  summit  is  known  as  Sheep  Camp. 


82 


KLONDIKE 


!l 


i 


11  ! 


il.ii 


■M 


i 


iili 


:li 


I 


n 


This  is  at  the  edge  of  timber,  and  no  wood 
for  a  fire  can  be  gotten  any  higher  up. 
This  camp  is  not  usually  broken  until  all 
of  the  outfit  has  been  placed  on  the  sum- 
mit. When  the  weather  is  favorable, 
everything  except  what  is  necessary  for 
camp  is  pushed  a  mile  and  a  half  to  Stone 
House,  a  clump  of  big  rocks,  and  then  to 
what  is  called  the  second  bench.  Care 
must  be  exercised  in  case  of  soft  weather, 
or  everything  is  liable  to  be  swept  from 
the  bench  by  a  snow-slide  or  avalanche, 
and  should  this  happen  the  Indians  will 
prove  of  great  assistance  in  recovering 
part  of  the  things.  With  long,  slender 
rods  tipped  with  steel  they  feel  down  in 
ths  snow  and  locate  most  of  the  larger 
packages,  which,  without  them  and  their 
feel  rods,  one  would  never  find.  At  Shef  p 
Camp  the  summit  towers  above  you  about 
thirty-five  hundred  feet,  but  the  pass  is 
some  five  hundred  feet  lower.  No  further 
progress  can  be  made  until  a  clear  day, 
and  sometimes  the  weather  continues  bad 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


83 


for  two  or  three  weeks,  the  mountain  top 
hidden  in  thick  clouds,  and  icy  wind  hurl- 
ing the  new-fallen  snow  in  every  direction, 
or  driving  the  sleet  in  the  face  of  any  ono 
bold  enough  to  stir  out  of  camp  and  peep 
up  at  that  almost  precipitous  wall  of  snow 
and  ice.  But  sunshine  comes  at  last  and 
the  winds  grow  still.  Now  comes  the  tug 
of  war — to  get  the  outfit  to  the  summit. 
For  six  hundred  feet  every  step  must  be 
cut  in  the  ice,  and  so  steep  is  it  that  a  per- 
son with  a  pack  on  his  back  must  con- 
stantly bend  forward  to  maintain  his  equi- 
librium. The  first  load  landed  on  the 
summit  of  the  pass,  a  shovel  is  stuck  in 
the  snow  to  mark  the  spot,  then  back  for 
another  pack,  and  fortunate  is  he  who  gets 
his  whole  outfit  up  in  a  single  day.  In- 
dians may  be  hired  to  do  the  packing,  and 
their  rates  vary  slightly,  but  the  regular 
price  has  been  five  dollars  a  hundred 
weight  from  the  second  bench  to  the  sum- 
mit, or  fifteen  cents  a  pound  from  Healy 
<%:  Wilson's  to  the  lakes.     These  prices 


Il 


I  ' 


lllii 


i 


\U 


i  i 


i  <   i 


lint      \ 


■  t       1 


34 


KLONDIKE 


have  been  shaded  a  little  the  past  season, 
and  some  outfits  were  packed  over  to  the 
lakes  at  thirteen  cents  a  pound.  The  rea- 
sons for  this  cut  in  prices  are  that  many 
miners  insist  on  doing  their  own  packing, 
and  that  their  work  has  been  seriously  af- 
fected by  a  tramway  device  which  was 
operated  last  season  with  more  or  less  suc- 
cess by  one  Peterson,  whoso  inventive 
genius  led  him  to  believe  that  a  simple  ar- 
rangement of  ropes  and  pulleys  would 
greatly  help  in  getting  outfits  up  the 
steeper  places.  A  small  log  is  buried  in 
the  snow,  and  to  this  "  dead  man  "  a  pul- 
ley is  attached  through  which  a  long  rope 
is  passed,  to  the  lower  end  of  which  a 
loaded  Yukon  sleigh  is  attached,  and  the 
empty  box  on  the  sled,  fastened  to  the 
upper  end  of  the  rope,  is  tl.3n  filled  with 
snow  until  its  weight  becomes  sufficient 
to  take  it  down  the  incline,  thus  dragging 
the  other  one  up.  The  snow  was  found  too 
light,  but  with  three  or  four  men  as  ballast 
in  place  of  snow  it  worked  well  and  saved 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


35 


t  season, 
Br  to  the 
The  rea- 
at  many 
packing, 
ously  af- 
lich  was 
less  suc- 
nventive 
imple  ar- 
s  would 
up    the 
juried  in 
"  a  pul- 
ing rope 
which  a 
and  the 
to  the 
ed  with 
ufficient 
ragging 
)und  too 
hallast 
d  saved 


a  good  deal  of  hard  packing.  When  the 
last  load  has  reached  the  summit  and  the 
miner  stands  beside  his  outfit,  looking 
down  toward  the  ocean  only  twenty  miles 
away,  he  can  feel  that  his  journey  has 
fairly  begun,  and  as  he  turns  he  sees  the 
descending  slope  melting  away  into  the 
great  valley  of  the  Yukon. 

The  descent  for  the  first  half-mile  is 
steep,  then  a  grao  aal  slope  to  Lake  Lin- 
derman  some  ten  miles  away.  But  there 
is  but  little  time  for  resting  and  none  for 
dreaming,  as  the  edge  of  the  timber,  where 
the  camp  must  be  made,  is  seven  miles 
from  the  summit.  Taking  the  camping 
outfit  and  sufficient  provisions  for  four  or 
five  days,  the  sleigh  is  loaded,  the  rest  of 
the  outfit  is  packed  up  or  buried  in  the 
snow,  shovels  being  stuck  up  to  mark  the 
spot.  This  precaution  is  necessary,  for 
storms  come  suddenly  and  rage  with  fury 
along  these  mountain  crests.  The  first 
half-mile  or  more  is  made  in  quirk  time, 
then  over  six  or  seven  feet  of  snow  the 


i;i 


I  ii 


i  I  _— 


;  J 


;       I 


36 


KLONDIKE 


f  n!  i 


prospector  dnigs  his  sleigh  to  where  there 
is  wood  for  his  camp-fire.  At  times  this  is 
no  easy  task,  especially  if  the  weather  be 
stormy,  for  the  winds  blow  the  new-fallen 
snow  about  so  as  to  completely  cover  the 
track  made  by  the  man  but  little  ahead : 
at  other  times,  during  fine  weather  and 
with  a  hard  crust  on  the  snow,  it  is  only  a 
pleasant  run  from  the  Pass  down  to  the  first 
camp  in  the  Yukon  basin.  In  all  except 
the  most  sheltered  situations  the  tent  is 
necessary  for  comfort,  and  the  stove  gives 
better  satisfaction  than  the  camp-fire, 
as  it  burns  but  little  wood,  is  easier  to 
cook  over,  and  does  not  poison  the  eyes 
with  smoke.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that 
there  are  fewer  cases  of  snow  blindness 
among  those  who  use  stoves  than  among 
those  who  crowd  around  a  smoking  camp- 
fire  for  cooking  or  for  warmth.  Comfort 
in  making  a  trip  of  this  kind  will  depend, 
in  a  great  measure,  upon  the  conveniences 
of  camping,  suitable  clothing,  and  light, 
warm     bedding — yes,     upon    provisions. 


M  li 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


37 


too,  though  ofttimes  more  depends  upon 
the  cook  than  what  is  in  the  larder.  The 
necessary  articles  of  food  are  flour,  bacon, 
beans,  sugar  and  tea;  hem,  canned  meats, 
rice,  milk,  butter,  dried  fruits  and  coffee 
are  usually  taken  also,  although  some  old- 
timers  look  upon  them  as  luxuries  only. 

After  the  rest  of  the  outfit  has  been 
brought  from  the  summit,  the  next  move 
is  to  Lake  Linderman,  about  three  miles 
distant.  Tho  route  now  lies  seven  miles 
across  the  lake  to  its  outlet;  down  the 
outlet  three  or  four  miles,  in  a  northeast- 
erly direction,  to  Lake  Bennett;  down  to 
the  foot  of  this  lake,  twenty-five  miles; 
then  down  the  river  four  or  fi.ve  miles,  and 
Takou  Lake  is  reached.  This  lake  is  some 
twenty  miles  long  and  empties  into  Mud 
Lake  through  an  oudet  three  miles  long. 
Mud  Lake  is  about  ten  miles  in  length, 
and  at  the  foot  of  it  open  water  is  usually 
found  in  April.  Open  water  will  prob- 
ably be  passed  before  reaching  this  point 
in   the   rivers   connecting  the   lakes,   but 


J 


m  ^ 


1 1. 


'I 


I 
I  ' 

f  ■ 


!    !m 


:'li 


iiil^ll 


!!'(! 


.Mr 


}  'l 


'I 


I  I  :i 


':i|. 


II I  1 


I     f: 


'     f 


38 


KLONDIKF 


firm  ice  at  tlie  sides  affords  good  sledding; 
but  at  the  foot  of  Mud  Lake  a  raft  or  boat 
must  be  built.  Dry  timber  can  be  found 
along  the  shores  with  which  to  build  a 
raft  which  will  take  everything  to  the 
Lewis  River  Caiion,  about  forty  miles  to 
the  northwest.  The  course  down  tlie 
lakes  has  been  much  in  the  form  of  a 
horseshoe,  and  now  bears  to  the  west  in- 
stead of  the  east. 

Before  reaching  the  caiion  a  high-cut 
bank  of  sand  on  the  right-hand  side  will 
give  warning  that  it  is  close  at  hand. 
Good  river  men  have  run  the  canon 
safely  even  with  loaded  rafts,  but  it  is 
much  surer  to  make  a  landing  on  the 
right  side  and  portage  the  outfit  around 
the  caiion,  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  anv 
run  the  raft  through  empty.  The  same- 
ness of  the  scenery  on  approaching  the 
caiion  is  so  marked  that  many  parties 
have  gotten  into  the  caiion  before  they 
were  aware  of  it.  Below  the  caiion  are 
the  White  Horse  llapids,  a  bad  piece  of 


li  ' 


AND  ALL   ABOUT   IT. 


39 


iedding ; 
,  or  boat 
e  found 
build  a 
to  the 
miles  to 
wn  tlie 
rm  of  a 
^vcst  in- 

ligh-cut 

side  will 

hand. 

caiion 

|ut  it  is 

on   the 

around 

lo,    auv 

same- 

ing  the 

parties 

^-e  they 

n  are 

^iece  of 


water.  But  the  raft  can  be  lined  down 
the  right-hand  side  until  near  the  White 
Horse,  three  miles  below.  This  is  a  box 
canon  about  a  hundred  yards  long  and 
fifty  in  width — a  chute  through  which  the 
water  of  the  river,  which  is  nearly  six 
hundred  feet  just  above,  rushes  with 
maddening  force.  But  few  have  ever  at- 
empted  to  run  it,  and  four  of  them  have 
been  drowned.  Of  two  men  who  made 
the  attempt  in  May,  1888,  nothing  was 
found  save  a  bundle  of  blankets.  Below 
the  White  Horse  aijother  raft  is  built,  and 
the  journey  continued  seventy-five  miles 
to  Lake  Le  Barge.  This  usually  requires 
three  days.  After  entering  the  lake  solid 
ice  is  f ''und  perhaps  a  mile  from  the  inlet. 
Can  J  i-^  made  on  the  shore,  and,  as  the 
ice  ^^e  s  iiift,  most  of  the  sledding  is  done 
in  the  e<  r ' ,  morr '  ig,  it  being  sufficiently 
light  in  3Iay  to  start  soon  after  midnight. 
This  lake  is  about  forty-five  miles  long, 
and  there  is  an  island  about  midway. 
Little  snow   will  bo  found  here  late  in 


i 


!   !      >  '}< 


TssB^m 


lb 


ill,, 
I 


i  !  M  i  ■ 


!  -1 


Mi;    ! 


'  i"i 


|i!  ijii 


r 


!  i   i 


:■  ! 


'ii 


! 


i 


!i!   I    i 


}     '  ;  i  1    , 


•'!i 


■ 


i  I 


I!' 


i  'i 


40 


KLONDIKE 


April,  but  it  will  be  all  glare  ice.  After 
camping  on  the  island  a  day's  journey 
will  make  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and  the 
sledding  is  completed.  If  one  expects  to 
stay  in  the  country  the  sled  should  not  be 
thrown  away,  however,  as  it  will  prove 
useful  later  ^-r.  A  comfortable  camp 
should  be  mado  i  and  the  building  of 
a  boat  commenc<^d.  This  will  require 
from  seven  to  ten  days,  and  the  method  of 
preparing  lumber  is  novel  to  all  who  are 
unused  to  frontier  life.  The  trees  selected 
should  be  sound  and  straight,  and  twelve 
inches  through  at  the  butt.  A  saw-pit 
about  six  feet  high  is  built  near  the  tree, 
and  the  tree  felled  and  cut  into  logs  about 
twenty-five  feet  long.  When  all  is  ready 
neighbors  are  invited  to  the  rolling-bee  to 
help  in  placing  the  logs  on  the  pit.  To 
make  good  lumber  requires  a  sharp  saw 
and  experience,  besides  hard  work.  To 
avoid  trouble  at  this  time  the  man  in  the 
pit  should  keep  his  mouth  closed.  After 
the  pit  is  h  veiled  and   the  log  peeled,  a 


AlfD  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


41 


.     After 
journey 
and  the 
pects  to 
i  not  be 
U  prove 
i    camp 
ding  of 
require 
Jthod  of 
kvho  are 
selected 

twelve 
saw-pit 
le  tree, 
s  about 
J  ready 
^-bee  to 
it.  To 
:*p  saw 
k.  To 
in  the 

After 
3led,  a 


square  is  made  on  the  smaller  end  and 
an  exact  counterpart  on  the  other.  The 
log  is  then  lined  both  above  and  below 
and  squared  or  slabbed.  Then  it  is  lined 
for  the  boards,  an  eighth  of  an  inch  al- 
ways being  allowed  for  the  saw-cut. 
After  the  boards  are  sawed  the  boat  is 
built,  calked  and  pitched,  oars  and  poles 
made,  and  the  journey  resumed.  Going 
down  the  Lewis  River,  the  Hootalinqua, 
Big  Salmon,  and  Little  Salmon  rivers  are 
passed  on  the  right  before  reaching  the 
Five  Fingers.  Here  four  large  buttes 
stand  like  giant  sentinel.^,  of  stone  to  dis- 
pute your  further  ingress  into  the  coun- 
try. The  water,  in  five  passages,  runs 
swiftly  between.  The  right-hand  passage 
is  the  only  one  which  is  practicable,  and, 
though  the  water  is  swift,  it  is  safe  if  the 
boat  be  kept  in  the  centre. 

A  few  moments  of  strong  pulling  and 
careful  management  and  the  boat  is  rap- 
idly approaching  Reef  Rapids,  three  miles 
below.     Here  again   the  right-hand  side 


i':illi:  III      I 


!il;! 


li:;    I 


Hi 


i ; : :  i 


j  rk\    ■ 

1 

1  ^  (-^ 

'    -' 

r     '      '  1 '    ! 

42 


KLONDIKE 


insures  safet}',  and,  having  gone  through 
them,  the  last  dangerous  water  is  passed. 
Next  comes  the  Pelly  River,  and  the 
junction  of  the  Pelly  and  Lew^is  forms  the 
Yukon  proper.  At  this  point  the  first 
trading  post  is  reached.  This  is  known 
as  Harper's  and  is  five  hundred  and  ten 
miles  distant  from  Juneau. 

Continuing  the  journey,  Stewart  River 
is  passed  on  the  right.  Then  White  River 
on  the  left,  so  named  on  account  of  its 
milky-looking  water.  The  next  tributary 
on  the  same  side  is  Sixty  Mile  Creek,  so 
called  on  account  of  its  being  sixty  miles 
above  Fort  Reliance.  A  hundred  miles 
below,  on  the  lef"  side,  is  Forty  Mile 
Creek,  forty  miles  below  Fort  Reliance. 
Here  the  Yukon,  is  over  two  miles  in 
width,  and  on  the  upper  bank  of  Forty 
Mile  Creek  is  the  principal  trading  post  of 
the  interior.  This  is  the  starting  point 
for  all  the  mines  and  is  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  Juneau. 

This  journey  is  made  in  early  spring  by 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


43 


hrough 

passed. 

nd   the 

rms  the 

le    first 

known 

nd  ten 

River 

3  River 

1 

1; 

of  its 

-i 

butary 

1 

sek,  so 

1 

miles 

■% 

miles 

1 

r  Mile 

iance. 

ies    in 

k 

Forty 

)ost  of 

point 

ndred 

ngby 


most  miners,  in  order  to  save  expenses  of 
packing,  and  requires  then  fron  six  to 
eight  weeks,  although  it  can  be  made  in 
summer  from  the  lakes  in  eight  or  ten 
days.  Plenty  of  provisions  should  be 
taken,  as  little  if  any  game  is  seen,  un- 
less one  goes  back  into  the  hills  for  it. 
Fish  are  plentiful,  and  a  gill  net  should 
form  a  part  of  every  outfit.  The  white- 
fish  taken  from  the  ice-cold  waters  of  the 
lakes  are  the  finest  in  the  world.  In  the 
spring  gull  eggs  are  abundant  on  the 
small  islands  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Le  Barge. 

ANOTHER   ROUTE. 

The  best  trail  from  the  coast  to  the  Yu- 
kon region  is  said  to  be  by  the  Lake  Teslin 
trail.  It  starts  at  Fort  Wrangell  and  pre- 
sents few  difficulties.  This  route  leads  up 
Telegraph  Creek  from  Fort  Wrangell,  and 
is  clear- water  travel  for  about  one  hundred 
miles  up  the  creek.  The  creek  is  abandoned 
there,  and  the  traveller  strikes  straight 
across  the  smooth  table  land  for  about 


la 


■       .         I 


44 


KLONDIKE 


» ' 


t    i 


i  ']•  'I 


one  hundred  and  seventy-  five  miles.  Then 
Teslin  Lake  is  reached,  and  it  is  plain 
sailing  down  the  Hootalinqua  River,  a 
tributary  of  the  Lewis  River,  and  down 
the  Lewis  it  is  clear  going  to  Dawson 
City. 

The  only  dangerous  part  of  this  route  is 
the  Five  Fingers  Rapids,  and  these  are  not 
bad  if  one  has  a  guide.  John  C  Cal- 
breath,  for  many  years  a  resident  on  Tele- 
graph Creek,  has  been  directed  by  the 
British  Columbia  government  to  open 
this  new  route,  and  two  thousand  dollars 
will  be  expended  upon  it  immediately. 
Steamboats  can  operate  up  Telegraph 
Creek.  Even  now,  it  is  said,  the  trip  to 
the  gold  fields  can  be  made  with  less  dan- 
ger and  more  quickly  by  this  route  than 
by  any  other.  It  is  open  usually  until  the 
middle  of  October,  and  sometimes  as  late 
as  November. 


WHAT   SUPPLIES   TO   BUY. 

Thomas  Cook,  who  has  been  a  miner 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


45 


for  nineteen  years  and  is  among  those 
who  came  down  on  the  Excelsior  after 
making  a  lucky  strike  on  the  Klondike, 
prepared,  at  the  request  of  the  Exami- 
ner, the  following  approximate  estimate 
of  the  actual  requirements  of  a  Yukon 
miner.  Tliese  figures  are  on  the  side  of 
conservatism,  as  they  are  based  on  his 
own  experience,  and  he  admits  that  he  is 
rather  below  than  above  the  average  as 
miners  go  in  the  matter  of  food  consump- 
tion. The  prices  quoted,  except  in  the 
case  of  such  articles  of  outfit  as  mocca- 
sins, suits,  and  the  *'parkie,"  which  are 
obtainable  in  Alaska  or  the  Yukon  coun- 
try of  the 'Northwest,  are  about  current 
rates  in  San  Francisco.  If  these  supplies 
were  purchased  at  Dawson  City  the  prices 
would  be  from  three  to  four  times  as 
much,  and  Mr.  Cook  says  he  does  not 
pretend  to  say  what  they  will  cost  next 
winter.  He  warns  any  man  against  the 
folly  of  going  without  at  least  as  good  a 
stock  as  he  has  enumerated  here.     His 


I  I 


*  i 


ill 


46 


KLONDIKE 


I 


'i 


i(  '] 


U. 


advice  is,  "Get  plenty  of  staples,  and 
get  the  best  clothes  obtainable  of  the  kind 
named." 

COST  OF  THE  OUTFIT. 

500  pounds  flour $12  50 

100  pounds  oatmeal . .  6  00 

100  pounds  beans 2  35 

24  pounds  coffee,  at  30  cents 7  20 

24  pounds  tea,  at  50  cents  13  00 

100  pounds  bacon,  at  14  cents 14  00 

100  pounds  dried  potatoes,  at  5  cents   5  00 

50  pounds  dried  vegetables,  at  5  cents  ...  2  50 

100  pounds  dried  fruits,  at  6  cents 6  00 

25  pounds  (2  cases)  condensed  milk 2  50 

5  pounds  baking  powder 2  50 

5  pounds  salt  and  pepper 1  00 

50  pounds  canned  butter,  at  25  cents 12  50 

30  pounds  lard,  at  10  cents 3  00 

25  pounds  rice,  at  5  cents 1  25 

20  pounds  tools    15  00 

50  pounds  stove  and  cooking  utensils 100  00 

2  pounds  matches,  etc 1  50 

1,310  pounds  supplies $206  80 

Three  suits  of  underclothes  of  good  v/ool. .     12  00 

Three  overshirts  of  wool 6  00 

Two  pairs  overalls  3  00 


m. 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


47 


pies,  and 
the  kind 


. . .  $12  50 
. .   6  00 
•  •  •   f^  oo 
■ . .   7  20 
• .  12  00 
. .  14  00 
..   5  00 
•.   2  50 
6  00 
..   2  50 
..   2  50 
.   1  00 
.  12  50 
.   3  00 
.   1  25 
.  15  00 
.  100  00 
1  60 

$206  80 

12  00 

6  00 

2  00 


Six  pairs  wDollen  sU)ckings $G  00 

Two  pairs  blankets. . .    16  00 

One  fox-skin  robe    50  00 

One  reindeer  "  parkie,"  covering  head  and 

reaching  to  the  knees 13  00 

Three  pairs  caribou  naittens  ...   0  00 

Two  fur  caps    H  00 

Two  pairs  rubber  boots 7  00 

Three  pairs  moccasins     0  00 

One  pair  "mucklucks" 5  00 

One  woollen  "  mackinaw  " — a  sort  of  wool- 
len sweater 10  00 

Two  sweaters  (extra  thick) 8  00 

Total  outfit,  120  pounds    $157  00 

Total  supplies,  1,310  pounds 206  80 

Grand  total,  1,430  pounds  $363  80 

Miners  who  remain  over  winter  adopt 
the  dress  of  the  natives.  Water  boots 
are  made  of  seal  or  walrus  skins;  dry- 
weather  or  winter  boots,  from  various 
skins,  fur  trimmed.  Trousers  are  made 
of  fawn  and  marmot  skins,  while  the  up- 
per garment,  combined  with  a  hood,  called 
tarka,  is  made  of  marmot  and  trimmed 


)  i 


hi 


I'  ';( 


i  1  t 


48 


KLONDIKE 


III 


(     I 


III 

>  i 

i  ' 


i  ,  : !  ( 


with  long  fur,  whicli  helps  to  protect  the 
face  of  the  person  wearing  it.  Flannels 
can  be  worn  under  these,  and  not  be  any 
heavier  than  clothing  worn  in  a  country 
with  zero  weather.—  ^Sa/i  Francisco  Ex- 
aminer. 

WHEN    WOMEN    (10. 

An  interesting  phase  of  the  Klondike 
craze  is  the  frantic  determination  of  many 
young  women  to  go.  All  the  expeditions 
are  besieged  by  women  applicants.  Here 
is  what  a  woman  who  has  roughed  it  on 
the  Klondike  says  : 

*' A  woman  actually  needs  little  in  the 
way  of  an  outfit,  presupposing,  of  course, 
that  she  goes  with  a  man  who  takes  the 
necessary  camping  outfit  and  food  along. 
This  is  what  she  requires  for  her  personal 
comfort : 

^'  One  medicine  case,  filled  on  the  advice 
of  a  good  physician ;  2  pairs  of  extra-heavy 
all-wool  blankets,  1  small  pillow,  1  fur 
robe,  1  warm  shawl,  1  fur  coat,  easy- 
fitting;  3  warm  woollen  dresses,  with  com- 


.if( 


if    ■    ;(i    ! 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


49 


protect  the 
•  Flannels 
not  be  any 
1  a  country 
ncisco  Ex- 


3  Klondike 
3n  of  many 
expeditions 
^ts.  Here 
ghed  it  on 

tie  in  the 
of  course, 
takes  the 
od  along. 
'  personal 

he  advice 
ira-heavy 
w,  1  fur 
at,  easy- 
nth  com- 


fortable bodices  and  skirts  knoo-lcngth 
(flannel-lined  preferable);  3  pairs  of  knick- 
ers (or  bloomers)  to  match  the  dresses,  3 
suits  of  heavy  all-wool  underwear,  3  warm 
flannel  night-dresses,  4  pairs  of  knitted 
woollen  stockings,  1  pair  of  rubber  boots, 
3  gingham  aprons  that  reach  from  neck  to 
knees;  small  roll  of  flannel,  for  insoles, 
wrapping  the  feet,  and  bandages;  a  sew- 
ing kit;  such  toilet  articles  as  are  abso- 
lutely necessary,  including  some  skin  un- 
guent to  protect  the  face  from  the  icy  coid; 

2  light  blouses,  or  shirt  waists,  for  summer 
wear;  1  oilskin  blanket  to  wrap  her  effects 
in  (to  be  secured  at  Juneau  or  St.  Mi- 
chael's); ]  fur  cape,  2  pairs  of  fur  gloves, 

3  pairs  of  surseal  moccasins,  2  pairs  of 
nmcklucks  (wet- weather  moccasins)." 

HOW    THE   (iOLD   GOT   THERE. 

Any  one,  even  with  the  smallest  amount 
of  curiosity,  will  bo  asking  himself  this 
question.  Geologists,  scientists,  and  min- 
ing engineers  have   explanations   legion. 


I        '  ■  ■•1 


m 


Mi 


mm 


ilii.ji 

in 


I 


li' 


liii   :-: 


;i| 


I  ! 


i  i 


n 


!  !  !  ! 


I!      I  I 


:!)     !|l;!"i 


Ml.' 


\i':'.\ 


!  iM.tl    ' 


Mi.'.        ! 

i  :  M   !  tm 


I 


in 


50 


KLONDIKE 


Hypothesis  and  theories,  of  many  dilTer- 
ences,  all  have  their  supporters.  A  much- 
accepted  and  easily  mderstood  theory 
is  the  following  : 

Starting  with  the  fact  that  all  gold  ex- 
isted  at  one  time  in  quartz  ledges,  or  veins, 
we  can  readily  follow  the  different  steps. 
Earthquakes,  glacial  wear,  and  volcanic 
disturbances  have  gradually  levelled  off 
some  thousands  of  feet  from  the  moun- 
tains in  which  these  gold-bearing  quartz 
veins  existed.  Immense  ledges  of  quartz 
were  thus  broken  up  into  boulders.  Then, 
again,  pretty  much  everywhere  in  mining 
re^fions  was  at  some  time  or  other  the  bed 
oi  a  river.  The  gold-bearing  quartz  boul- 
ders, falling  into  the  rushing  waters  of 
some  mighty  river,  have  been  ground  and 
worn  smooth,  or  else  broken  into  smaller 
boulders. 

Gold,  as  is  well  known,  is  our  most 
malleable  metal,  whereas  quartz  is  very 
fragile.  What  is  more  natural,  then, 
than  that  these  boulders  of  quartz,   sub' 


AND   ALL   ABOUT  IT. 


51 


jec*^*^'^.  lo  the  intense  bounding  and  blows 
as  they  are  rolled  along  in  a  rushing  tor- 
rent of  water,  should  be  disintegrated? 
The  quartz  constantly  breaking  away,  the 
gold,  being  more  ductile,  clings  together, 
and  finally  the  quartz  is  entirely  broken 
away  and  we  have  left  a  little  well- 
rounded  nugget  of  gold.  Ii  may  be 
no  larger  than  a  pea,  and  still  when  it 
left  its  mother  ledge  it  may  have  repre- 
sented the  entire  gold  in  a  mass  of  rock 
weighing  several  tons.  Thus  wo  have  our 
nugget  formed.  By  reason  of  its  great 
weight  it  seeks  its  lowest  level,  working  its 
way  down  through  the  lighter  rocks  until 
it  settles  on  bed  rock — the  bottom  of  the 
river  bed.  Thus  will  the  gravel  near  bed 
rock  almost  invari*^bly  be  found  to  contain 
the  most  gold. 


HOW   TO   GET   THE   GOLD. 

Our  fortune  seeker,  arrived  on  the 
grounds  at  Circle  City  or  Klondike,  or 
any  of  the  various  mining   camps,  had 


Mini 

I!|i'i! 

, 

1  jii 

{'    il 

: 

I;  1 

1 

1 

; 

i    ''i 

i 

1 

-Mi 

! 

1 

ijli'  i 

t 
1 

! 

1   !  !           •■      ' 

i:   ii' 

1 

j 

Mi:  .•: 

i 

i 

I-   iii' 

fi 

1  ii 
'  il, 

1;  ri 

il 

t !  ' 

;        1        ■           ' 

If 

\  '  ' 

i 

j'i  ■' 

'f        :^: 

1 

i 

:      1                1  (  ; 

' 

1  - 

I 

1  i 

1 

nil 

iim 


\uv 


i  -ii 


•  'i 


'Ml 


;Mi 


iiii 


iih 


52 


KLONDIKE 


much  better,  if  he  is  a  "  tenderfoot  "  and  a 
greenhorn  at  mining,  put  in  a  few  days  in 
learning  a  little  about  mining  and  some  of 
the  little  kinks  peculiar  to  the  mining  in 
this  region.  Prospectors'  books  and  the 
like  are  well  enough  in  their  way,  but  an 
application  of  these  teachings  under  the 
direction  of  an  experienced  miner  may 
save  many  thousands  of  dollars  and  many 
days  of  hardship. 

If  an  experienced  prospector  is  one  of 
your  party,  after  getting  the  lay  of  the 
country  you  can  then  decide  whether  you 
are  going  to  try  your  lu?k  in  the  less 
known  country  or  stay  in  tlie  established 
diggings  and  stake  off  your  claim  in  the 
remaining  open  ground. 

Locate  over  river  gravel,  and  remember 
the  short  side  of  the  bends  of  a  river  has 
generally  proved  richest.  That  is  all  the 
advice  that  can  be  given  as  to  where  to 
locate  your  claim.  Read  carefully  the 
laws  of  both  the  United  States  and  Canada 
appended   to   this   volume.     They   define 


It  t 


AND  ALL  ABOUT   IT. 


53 


what  you  can  lay  claim  to.  Follow  the 
laws  to  the  letter.  Be  careful  about  your 
notices,  corner  stakes,  and  the  recording 
of  your  location  notice.  Comply  with  the 
laws  to  the  letter  ;  there  are  lots  of  sharps 
that  are  willing  and  anxious  to  jump  your 
claim  if  there  is  a  flaw  in  your  title  to  pos- 
session and  it  proves  rich  digging. 

Having  secured  a  claim  and  established 
your  camp,  the  next  thing  is  to  start  sink- 
ing to  get  down  to  bed  rock  to  determine 
how  rich  your  gravel  is  to  be.  In  this 
cold  region,  with  a  temperature  down 
around  00°  and  70°  below  zero  in  winter, 
water,  of  course,  there  is  none,  except  tliut 
which  is  obi^ained  by  melting  snow  or  ice. 
So  the  practice  is  to  mine  and  store  the 
gravel  through  the  winter  and  wash  it  dur- 
ing the  summer. 

In  all  diggings  so  far  tbo  gravel  has 
been  found  frozen  right  down  to  bed  rock, 
which  allows  miners  to  work  during  win- 
ter under  the  river's  bed.  Picks  and  other 
usual  implements  of  excavating  are  use- 


n^^ 


"«^>!bMl 


^'iiin: 


iii'li  il 


!i 


1,  :  ! 


'(   ,      ! 


i   'I 

r 


! 


Mi 


Ml 
I'll': 


' ,  ■  \  I 


!M' 
ii    •' 


!!:i 


':      ! 


i    iliit 


i  i )  I ; 


ii      :i 


i    ■i!i, 


(1^ 


('H::- 


I '  ■ 


;ii 


M 

hi  ! 


Ill 


54 


KLONDIKIO 


less  in  this  frozen  ground.  The  only  suc- 
cessful method  of  sinking  as  yet  discovered 
is  an  alternate  thawing  of  the  ground  by 
fires  and  then  excavating  the  thawed-out 
gravel ;  then  firing  again,  and  so  on. 
Each  firing  will  enable  one  to  make  on 
an  average  a  foot  of  headway.  Siberian 
practices,  as  set  forth  in  the  following 
chapter,  are  adapted  to  the  conditions  as 
encountered  at  Klondike.  The  various 
steps  of  sinking  and  drifting  by  thawing 
are  fully  described  under  the  head  of 
"  Siberian  Practices." 

Having  obtained  his  dump  of  gravel, 
the  richest  jealously  guarded  in  sacks,  the 
miner  impatiently  awaits  the  spring  with 
its  warm  sun  to  melt  the  snows  and  furnish 
him  with  water  with  which  he  can  pan  his 
dirt.  A  miner's  pan  is  of  sheet  iron,  like  a 
large  round  cake  pan,  some  twelve  inches 
in  diameter,  the  sides  about  two  inches 
high  and  sloping  off  at  a  considerable 
angle. 

la  the  pan  he  puts  his  thawed  gravel, 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT 


55 


ie  only  suc- 
t  discovered 
'  ground  by 
thawed-out 
nd    so    on. 
3  make  on 
Siberian 

following 
iditions  as 
te  various 
Y  thawing 

head    of 

'f  gravel, 
5acks,  the 
•ing  with 
d  furnish 
n  pan  his 
3n,  like  a 
'e  inches 
0  inches 
iiderable 

gravel, 


and  then,  sinking  it  just  over  its  rims  in 
water,  he  gives  it  a  rotary  motion  that 
loosens  the  dirt  from  the  pebbles.  The 
pebbles,  when  free  from  clinging  dirt,  ho 
picks  out  by  hand,  being  careful,  you  may 
imagine,  not  to  toss  away  nuggets.  The 
gold  settles  to  the  bottom  around  the  rim, 
the  dirt  and  sand  being,  by  the  rotary, 
rocking  motion,  sloped  off  and  away  over 
the  sides.  Finally  only  the  gold  is  left  in 
the  pan,  and  either  this  is  scraped  off  into 
some  receptacle,  or  else  a  little  quicksilver 
is  poured  into  the  pan,  which  unites  with 
the  gold,  and  every  particle  can  thus  be 
saved.  This  gold  and  quicksilver  is  called 
amalgam,  the  gold  afterward  being  ob- 
tained pure  by  heating  the  amalgam, 
which  drives  off  the  quicksilver,  leaving 
the  gold  a  united  mass. 

A  good  man  can  thus  pan  a  ton  of  gravel 
a  day.  It  is  hard,  back-breaking  work, 
but  the  fascination  of  ever  watching  for 
the  yellow  color  as  the  dirt  washes  away 
will  keep  a  man  at  work  till  he  finds  him- 


mmmfm 


I':! 


II,    .:  J  l! 

!  ::'   !  :  i  ll 


III! 


f^'li 


:l! 


'l     !      "'n 


;!ilt' 


i       !  1, 1 


I'.'t 


l;|! 


I'll 


!  t 


1  [ 


1       , 


56 


KLONDIKE 


self  exhausted.  There  is  a  great  knack  in 
panning,  as  out  of  the  same  gravel  an  ex- 
perienced man  can  get  a  dollar  where  a 
greenhorn  may  get  only  fifty  cents  or  even 
less. 

To  handle  greater  quantities  of  gravel, 
devices  known  as  rockers,  cradles,  long 
tons,  and  sluice  boxes  have  been  devised. 

WORKING   FROZEN   ALLUVIAL   DEPOSITS 
IN   SIBERIA. 

In  his  report  on  the  gold  placers  of 
Eastern  Siberia  M.  Levat  says  that  in  the 
Trans- Baikal  the  ground  below  a  certain 
depth  is  always  frozen,  and  where  the 
gold-bearing  deposits  extend  below  that 
depth  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  special 
methods  of  working.  Various  explana- 
tions of  this  condition  of  the  ground  have 
been  offered;  the  simplest  and  most  natu- 
ral is  found  in  the  intense  cold  of  the 
climate,  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  the 
short  summers,  which  allow  the  ground 
to  thaw  for  only  a   few  feet   before   the 


AND  ALL   ABOUT   IT. 


67 


at  knack  in 
avol  an  ox- 
ir  where  a 
fits  or  even 

of  gravel, 
^ies,  long 
1  devised. 

DEPOSITS 

wacers   of 
hat  in  the 
a  certain 
^here   the 
low  that 
^    special 
explana- 
ind  have 
^st  natu- 
•  of  the 
and   the 
ground 
ore   the 


winter  returns.  In  a  large  part  of  the  re- 
gion the  surface  of  the  earth  is  very  light- 
ly covered  with  vegetation,  and  the  snow- 
fall in  the  Trans- Baikal  is  also  light.  It 
is  noticeable  that  in  marshy  places,  where 
there  is  a  thick  covering  of  grass  or  herb- 
age, this  deep  frost  is  much  less  apparent 
than  elsewhere. 

As  the  working  of  frozen  ground  from 
the  surface  is  often  very  difficult,  it  is 
usually  opened  by  shafts  and  galleries,  as 
in  ordinary  deep  mining.  The  methods 
adopted  in  Siberia  at  different  points  are 
nearly  similar.  Workings  of  this  kind 
are  limited  by  the  fact  that  only  rich  de- 
posits will  bear  the  expense  involved. 

An  instance  of  such  workings  is  found 
in  the  Malamaski  placers,  where  the  lower 
part  of  the  ground  is  exploited  by  means 
of  shafts,  of  which  there  are  at  present 
five.  The  gold-bearing  deposit  in  these 
placers  varies  in  tenor  from  1.4  g.  to  6.5  g. 
})er  ton;  its  thickness  is  from  six  to  eleven 
feet,  and  the  depth  is  about  one  hundred 


m 

' 

(1    ''':H 

1 

; 

•'il'ri'i! 


t; 


I      'l  V 


ll 


1 1 

!  ill 
I 


I    t  I   -11, 

j':  I  :'y 


i      ' 


i    i 


!i! 


ill 


1   :  M 


ilMii 


II 


:  I 
'  I 


!   ■'    ^ 


!l 


I 
I 


I  i  ,1. 


1  ; 


■I   f . 


: 


58 


KLONDIKE 


feet  from  the  surface.  The  subterranean 
works  were  begun,  but  not  very  effectually 
carried  out,  by  the  Schouvaloff  Company, 
which  preceded  the  Malamaski  Company 
at  these  placers. 

The  method  of  working  is  shown  in  the 
accompanying  engravings,  which  show  in 
Figs.  1  and  2  sections  of  the  galleries;  in 
Fig.  3  a  plan  of  a  part  of  the  gallery;  in 
Fig.  5  a  general  plan  of  the  works;  and 
in  Fig.  4  a  section  at  the  breast  of  a  cross- 
cut. The  shafts  are  sunk  about  fifty 
metres  apart  and  are  joined  by  a  gallery 
or  crosscut,  from  which  chambers  are 
worked  at  regular  intervals,  running  to 
the  clearly  defined  borders  of  the  deposit. 
Pillars  are  left  4.3  metres  square,  the  in- 
tervals between  them  being  4.3  metres. 
This  arrangement  is  shown  in  Fig.  5. 
The  disadvantage  is  that  fully  one-fourth 
of  the  gold-bearing  ore  is  left  in  these  pil- 
lars. They  can,  however,  be  taken  out 
whcii  the   mine   is   abandoned,   in  which 


AND   ALT.  ABOUT  IT. 


5d 


in 


iiiNiniiii  jswkndm 


•l| 


i  I 


■'■  i 


1 1 


I       ! 


trim 


i 


IM" 


ii|!|! 


1 1 


!         I> 


mw 


i!ll 


:i 


! 


ie 


60 


KLONDIKE 


case  the  mine  is  left  to  cave  in  by  the 
weight  of  the  surface  soil. 

All  the  workings  are  very  carefully 
timbered.  The  walls  in  most  cases  are  of 
jointed  (tongued  and  grooved)  planks, 
and  the  posts  used  have  a  minimum  dia- 
meter of  15  centimetres  (6  inches)  at  the 
small  end.  In  the  crosscuts  and  chambers 
separate  timbers  support  the  roof,  as 
shown  in  Figs.  1,  2,  3,  and  4.  This  quan- 
tity of  timber  is  made  necessary  by  the 
weight  to  be  sustained  from  the  time  the 
opening  is  begun  until  the  work  is  finally 
left  to  cave.  This  lasts  usually  about 
three  years.  The  cost  of  the  timbering  is 
the  great  objection  to  this  method  of 
working. 

In  working,  the  usual  method  is  to  pile 
up  wood  at  the  face  of  the  chamber;  then 
fire  it  and  cover  the  burning  mass  with 
charcoal,  the  object  being  to  concentrate 
the  fire  as  much  as  possible  below,  the 
heat  having  a  tendency  to  rise.  As  may 
be  supposed,  the  firing  brings  up  the  tem- 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


61 


ve  in  by  the 

ry    carefully 
cases  are  of 
^ed)    planks, 
inimum  dia- 
iches)  at  the 
fid  chambers 
le    roof,    as 
This  quan- 
isary  by  the 
he  time  the 
rk  is  finally 
lally  about 
imbering  is 
aiethod    of 

d  is  to  pile 
nber;  then 
fnass  with 
Dncentrate 
)elow,  the 
As  may 
)  the  tem- 


perature of  the  mine;  when  work  is  going 
on  at  several  faces  the  air  is  frequently  so 
hot  that  the  miners  work  entirely  without 
clothes,  though  the  temperature  of  the 
air  outside  is  30°  or  35°  C. ,  equivalent  to 
"22°  to  30°  below  zero  in  the  Fahrenheit 
scale.  When  the  fire  is  burned  out  the 
face  is  found  to  be  soft  and  easily  brought 
down  with  the  pick.  The  miners  then 
place  a  new  section  of  timbering,  as  shown 
at  ^-1,  A',  A" ,  Fig.  4,  and  the  operation  is 
repeated. 

In  placing  the  timbers  it  often  happens 
that  gaps  are  left  above  them  in  the  allu- 
vium, and,  aided  by  the  heat  of  the  mine, 
there  sometimes  follow  slips  which  will 
break  the  strongest  timbers.  It  seems 
impossible  to  prevent  these,  and  they  are 
much  feared  by  the  miners.  In  placing 
the  new  timbers  of  the  roof,  as  at  A,  A' , 
A" ,  in  Fig.  4,  they  are  given  a  slight  in- 
clination upward,  which  tends  to  hold 
them  firmly  against  the  old  timbering. 
In  underground  mining  this  answers  very 


1,  —-^WKHPi 

mm 


M   !■! 


f! 


>    Mini 


'l|ir  ' 


II  i 


I 


;il 


!' 


ill  ill  I 


li' 


i^l 


J .  Ii  '  '  :     I 


'!^l!'.i 


i  "r 


,1  ,1 


i,:    i   '    :' 


i.iijni 


62 


KLONDIKE 


well,  because  there  is  a  counter-pressure 
from  the  opposite  direction.  In  starting 
a  tunnel  into  a  hillside,  however,  it  is 
dangerous,  as  the  weight  of  the  superin- 
cumbent earth,  having  nothing  to  resist 
it,  has  a  tendency  to  throw  down,  or  fold 
up  as  it  were,  the  whole  line  of  timbering. 
Such  an  accident  happened  at  the  lossi- 
foff  placer,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Ildi- 
kan  River. 

The  usual  rule  is  that  each  foot  in  thick- 
ness of  wood  applied  to  the  frozen  allu- 
vium will  thaw  out  an  equal  thickness  of 
gravel.  The  action,  however,  will  not 
exceed  35  centimetres  (14  inches)  as  a 
maximum.  The  method  is  not  an  ideal 
one,  but  the  circumstances  are  difficult. 
The  frozen  soil  cannot  be  worked  with 
the  pick,  as  it  does  not  break,  but  simply 
mats  together  under  a  blow.  For  the 
same  reason  powder  and  dynamite  have 
little  effect;  moreover  the  drilling  of  the 
alluvium  through  which  quartz  boulders 
are  scattered  is  a  slow  and  costly  work. 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


63 


The  action  of  the  fire  seems  to  be  the  only 
method  applicable  under  the  existing  con- 
ditions. 

This  underground  work  is  carried  on 
only  in  the  winter  when  outside  work  is 
impossible.  In  the  winter  of  1894-95,  at 
the  Malamaski  placer,  in  0^  months' 
working,  the  total  number  of  working 
days,  or  men,  was  13,770,  and  of  horses 
5,276.  There  were  used  2,345  cords  of 
wood  and  1,011  cubic  metres  of  charcoal 
for  heating.  For  lighting  there  were  used 
180  kilogrammes  of  oil  and  120  kilo- 
grammes candles.  The  result  was  4,035 
metric  tons  of  gravel  taken  out  and 
washed,  from  which  there  were  obtained 
G5.64  kilogrammes  gold,  or  about  $43, GOO; 
which  seems  hardly  a  paying  yield,  even 
at  Siberian  wages.  The  average  of  nume- 
rous assays  showed  that  about  80  per  cent 
of  the  assay  value  was  obtained. — From 
the  Engineering  and  Mining  Jourmal, 


^'! 


'!  l! 


;(iii!  ii'ii'!'  I  (!l 


Tillli 


ill!' 


U'i-in    i 


hl'^' 


v  I 


VI     ■ 

I-   '':  I 

ll    1:1         I 


i;IV:!;i^ 


I    !:r;    ; 


N    I     i(VI 


.1  1 1 1 ':' 


'    !ii    ' 


i    ;!      I 


64 


KLONDIKE 


MINING   ^  AWS,    CANADA  AND   THE 


UNITED    STATES. 


Canadian  Laivs. 


In  case  a  person  thinks  of  going  into  the 
Yukon  fields  to  prospect  for  gold,  so  long 
as  he  locates  a  claim  in  Canadian  territory 
he  must  be  guided  by  the  mining  laws  of 
that  country.  He  must  therefore  bear  in 
mind  and  obey  these  regulations,  which 
are  the  principal  features  '^f  the  statute 
provided  for  giving  placer  miners  .and 
their  loc,  .tions  of  property. 

"  Bar  diggings  shall  mean  any  part  of  a 
river  over  which  the  water  extends  when 
the  water  is  in  its  flor^ded  state  and  which 
is  not  covered  at  low  water.  Mines  on 
benches  shall  be  known  as  bench  diggings, 
and  shall,  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the 
size  of  such  claims,  be  excepted  from  dry 
diggings.  Dry  diggings  shall  mean  ?ny 
mine  over  which  a  river  never  extends. 

"Miner  aliall  mean  a  male  or  female 
over  the  age  of  eighteen,  but  not  under 


.1  \.\ 


'I 


|h; 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


65 


ND   THE 


ing  into  the 
3ld,  so  long 
an  territory 
ing  laws  of 
ore  bear  in 
ons,  which 
;he  statute 
liners  and 

y  part  of  a 
nds  when 
md  which 
Mines  on 
diggings, 
ining  the 
from  dry 
tiean  ?ny 
tends, 
r  female 
ot  under 


that  age.  Claim  shall  mean  the  personal 
right  of  property  in  a  placer  mine  or  dig- 
gings during  the  time  for  which  the  grant 
of  such  mine  or  diggings  is  made. 

"  Legal  post  shall  mean  a  stake  stand- 
ing not  less  than  four  feet  above  the 
ground  and  squared  on  four  sides  for  at 
least  one  foot  from  the  top.  Close  season 
shall  mean  the  period  of  year  during 
which  placer  mining  is  generally  suspend- 
ed— the  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  gold 
commissioner  '.u  whose  district  the  claim 
is  situated. 

' '  Locality  shall  mean  the  territory  along 
a  river  tributary  of  the  Yukon  and  its 
affluents.  Mineral  shall  include  all  mine- 
rals whatsoever  other  than  coal." 


i.  Bar  diggings — a  strip  of  land  one 
hundred  feet  wide  at  high-water  mark 
and  thence  extending  along  the  river  to 
its  lowest  water  level. 

2.  The  sides  of  a  claim  for  bar  diggings 
iihall  be  two  parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as 


Ml    ,1 


§ 


I,,:  i 


il''l'!;"    f'I'l 


.M  \ 


M;  h;' '^il 


ir 


'i  I 


{Ml  I 


■  !   . 


.* 


llurt   .  jV  I 


lei  I 


,;t|  ■'       '' 


:1  I!.; 


'(;■. 


I    ll  ■' 


:  .  '\ 


i  I 


ii  I 


i;     ! 


66 


KLONDIKE 


possible  at  right  angles  to  the  stream,  and 
shall  be  marked  by  four  legal  posts,  one 
at  each  end  of  the  claim  at  or  about  high- 
water  mark;  also,  one  at  each  end  of  the 
claim  at  or  about  the  edge  of  the  water. 
One  of  the  posts  shall  be  legibly  marked 
with  the  name  of  the  miner  and  the  date 
upon  which  the  claim  is  staked. 

3.  Dry  diggings  shall  be  one  hundred 
feet  square,  and  shall  have  placed  at  each 
of  the  four  corners  a  legal  post,  upon  one 
of  which  shall  be  legibly  marked  the 
name  of  the  miner  and  the  date  upon 
which  the  claim  was  staked. 

4.  Creek  and  river  claims  shall  be  five 
hundred  feet  long,  measured  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  mineral  course  of  the  stream, 
and  shall  extend  in  width  from  base  to 
base  of  the  hill  or  bench  on  each  side,  but 
when  the  hills  or  benches  are  less  than 
ono  hundred  feet  apart  the  claim  may  be 
one  hundred  feet  in  depth.  The  sides  of  a 
claim  shall  bo  two  parallel  lines  run  as 
nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles  to  the 


li'i    i   1 1:!  I    i 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


67 


stream,  and 
il  posts,  one 
about  high- 
1  end  of  the 
the  water, 
ibly  marked 
ad  the  date 
d. 

>ne  hundred 

iced  at  each 

;t,  upon  one 

arked  the 

date    upon 


stream.  The  sides  shall  be  marked  with 
legal  posts  at  or  about  the  edge  of  the  wa- 
ter and  at  the  rear  boundary  of  the  claim. 
One  of  the  legal  posts  at  the  stream  shall 
be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the 
miner  and  the  date  upon  which  the  claim 
was  staked. 

5.  Bench  claims  shall  be  one  hundred 
feet  square. 

6.  In  defining  the  size  of  claims  they 
shall  be  measured  horizontally,  irrespec- 
tive of  inequalities  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

7.  If  any  person  or  persons  shall  dis- 
cover a  new  mine,  and  such  discovery 
shall  be  established  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  gold  commissioner,  a  claim  for  the  bar 
diggings,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
length,  may  be  granted.  A  new  stratum 
of  auriferous  earth  or  gravel  situated  in  a 
locality  where  the  claims  are  abandoned 
shall  for  this  purpose  be  deemed  a  new 
mine,   although   the  same  locality  shall 


i 


ilii 


'  'I'll 


:      li 
-  1 1  'I 


!i 


J  'i; 


::-i  !!' 


If  i  j   ,  I  ■ !  i 
I'li         I    [ 


I  i ! ' ;  ■  1 ' 


iili'il     , 


I'l 

I'    ' 


!li 


■  j!1ll.ivi 


H!'    ':'! 


;::  1 1"' 


I 


i''j  li^iif'' : 


lii'    I 


ii 


iiy 


I,         I 


68 


KLONDIKE 


have  previously  been  worked  at  a  different 
level. 

8.  The  form  of  application  for  a  grant 
for  placer  mining  and  the  grant  of  the 
same  shall  be  according  to  those  made, 
provided,  or  supplied  by  the  gold  commis- 
sioner. 

9.  A  claim  shall  be  recorded  with  the 
gold  commissioner  in  whose  district  it  is 
situated  within  three  days  after  the  loca- 
tion thereof,  if  it  is  located  within  ten 
miles  of  the  commissioner's  office.  One 
day  extra  shall  be  allowed  for  making 
such  record  for  every  additional  ten  miles 
and  fraction  thereof. 

10.  In  event  of  the  absence  of  the  gold 
commissioner  from  his  office  for  entry,  a 
claim  may  be  granted  by  any  person  whom 
he  may  appoint  to  perform  his  duties  in 
his  absence. 

11.  Entry  shall  not  be  granted  for  a 
claim  which  has  not  been  staked  by  the 
applicant  in  person  in  the  manner  specified 
in  these  resolutions.     An  affidavit  that  the 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


69 


claim  was  staked  out  by  the  applicant 
shall  be  embodied  in  the  application. 

12.  An  entry  fee  of  $15  shall  be  charged 
the  first  year  and  an  annual  fee  of  $100 
foi  oacli  of  the  following  years. 

13.  After  ending  a  claim  the  removal  of 
any  post  by  the  holder  thereof  or  any  per- 
son acting  in  his  behalf  for  the  purpose  of 
changing  the  boundaries  of  his  claim  shall 
act  as  a  forfeiture  of  the  claim. 

14.  The  entry  of  every  holder  for  a  grant 
for  placer  mining  must  be  renewed  and  his 
receipt  relinquished  and  replaced  every 
year,  the  entry  fee  being  paid  each  year. 

15.  No  miner  shall  receive  a  grant  for 
more  than  one  mining  claim  in  the  same 
localit}'',  but  the  same  miner  may  hold  any 
number  of  claims  by  purchase,  and  any 
number  of  miners  may  unite  to  work 
their  claims  in  common  on  such  terms  as 
they  may  arrange,  provided  such  agree- 
ment be  registered  with  the  gold  com- 
missioner and  a  fee  of  $5  paid  for  each 
registration. 


ffl 

ii;. 
,  .... 

1     '      '  ■               ; 

I 

'i ' 

1 
I 

; ; 

i! 
i' 

1 1  : 

n 
Iii 

ii  ■ 

'  1     ■ 

ii   , 

t    1   ' 

i!i'i 
III.'  1 

Ijl 

i^'i.  i! 

i     .i; 

1 

'  li 
■  i 

fiiiJ 

i;:'i 

II  .  ■! 

!  y 

1 

1     :  ii'i 

ii  ii'! 

I'^i 

:  '!  ■■ 

;l  " 

r1 

\; 

! 

i.!       ! 
ht,\\   1  i 

Mi,  'i 

•    '           i   .-        1' 
1    1     .'■''' 

■  !  r!,i 

1, 

'1' 

r  i  hi.::;  ,■' 

\  ''  '  '< 
■■(  .  ■'■ 

■■  i;: 

i       ■'  'i 
■  1  !, 

'    i  / 
,1    '  1 

r    1  1 ' 

:iii:;'iil ■ ,  ' 

;r!              '     ■ 

JiiS;M: 

'  liiiV  .!  . 

'^rii  1. 

1      ! 

1',  n.; 

;    11  "1,11,  j    ■    ; 

;':hi     :   1 

'  .  '  ■:    '  : 

<       1          1 

,i!j:i; 

,.,:!'         1     ' 

,;1M 

i 

1  '  i 

i     ! 
! 

.  ,   /  1 

iImiI 

1     i 

! 

1 

^-«.«. , 

70 


KLONDIKE 


16.  Any  miner  or  miners  may  sell, 
mortgage,  or  dispose  of  his  or  their  claims, 
provided  such  disposal  be  registered  with, 
and  a  fee  of  $5  paid  to,  the  gold  commis- 
sioner, who  shall  thereupon  give  the  as- 
signee a  certificate  of  his  title. 

17.  Every  miner  shall,  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  grant,  have  the  exclusive 
right  to  enter  upon  his  own  claim  for  the 
miner-like  working  thereof  and  the  con- 
struction of  a  residence  thereon,  and  shall 
be  entitled  exclusively  to  all  the  proceeds 
realized  therefrom;  but  he  shall  have  no 
surface  rights  therein,  and  the  gold  com- 
missiorer  may  grant  to  the  holder  of  ad- 
jacent claims  such  rights  of  entry  thereon 
as  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
working  of  their  claims,  upon  such  terms 
as  may  to  him  seem  reasonable.  He  may 
also  grant  permission  to  miners  to  cut 
timber  thereon  for  their  own  use  upon 
payment  of  the  dues  prescribed  by  the 
regulations  in  that  behalf. 

18.  Every  miner  shall  be  entitled  to  the 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


71 


itled  to  tlie 


use  of  so  much  of  the  water  naturally 
flowing  through  or  past  his  claim,  and  not 
already  lawfully  appropriated,  as  shall,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  gold  commissioner,  be 
nece&i^.^^r  for  the  working  thereof,  and 
shall  be  entiiiv.:j  f^  drain  his  own  claim 
free  of  charge. 

19.  A  claim  shall  be  deemed  to  \»o  aban- 
doned and  open  to  occupation  and  en 
try  by  any  person  when  the  same  shall 
have  remained  unworked  on  working  days 
by  the  grantee  thereof,  or  by  some  person 
in  his  behalf,  for  the  space  of  seventy-two 
hours,  unless  sickness  or  other  reasonable 
cause  may  be  shown  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  gold  commissioner,  or  unless  the  gran- 
tee is  absent  on  leave  given  by  the  com- 
missioner, and  the  gold  commissioner, 
upon  obtaining  evidence  satisfactory  to 
himself  that  this  provision  is  not  being 
complied  with,  may  cancel  the  entry  given 
for  a  claim. 

^0.  If  the  land  upon  which  a  claim  has 
been   located  is  not   the   property  of  the 


r  .!i 


'III 
ill:'! 


i'lill 


W'M\ 


ii 


I'i  "I  I; 


III 
Hi'!'! 

ill     !    ! 


rt 

i]  I 

i 

'1:  :      if 


'il|ih:'i:i9.i 


'dri 


'I'i:-!.     ' 


i    ;'ii' 


IJ;'.!!ii 


ili  v 


ii:.'  'iiii'ijiji!  I  ■!■ 
I  iii  I  i 

i-riMpl 


II 


:i!;';i ! 
1 


i    ;!i!: 


am 


78 


KLONDIKE 


crown,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  person 
who  applies  for  en^fcry  to  furnish  proof  that 
he  has  acquired  from  the  owner  of  the 
land  the  surface  right  before  entry  can  h^ 
granted. 

21.  If  the  occupier  ^*  ^'^^  ^^.nds  has  not 
received  a  p'-'»c;nt  thereto,  the  purchase 
mor'^j  or  the  surface  rights  must  be  paid 
to  the  crown,  and  a  patent  of  the  surface 
rights  will  issue  to  the  party  who  acquired 
the  mining  rights.  The  money  so  col- 
lected will  either  be  refunded  to  the  occu- 
pier of  the  land  when  he  is  entitled  to  a 
patent  thereto,  or  will  be  credited  to  him 
on  account  of  payment  of  land. 

23.  When  the  party  obtaining  the  min- 
ing rights  cannot  make  an  arrangement 
with  the  owner  thereof  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  surface  rights,  it  shall  be  law- 
ful for  him  to  give  notice  to  the  owner  or 
his  agent,  or  the  occupier,  to  appoint  an 
arbitrator  to  act  with  another  arbitra- 
tor named  by  him,  in  order  to  award  the 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


73 


amount   of  compensation    to  which    th« 
owner  or  occupier  shall  be  entitled. 

United  States. 

Citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  persons 
declaring  their  intention  to  become  such 
can  explore,  locate,  and  purchase  mineral 
lands  by  complying  with  Federal  and 
State  laws.  Prospectors  are  not  required 
to  take  out  a  license  or  certificate. 

Quartz  Land. — Mining  claims  upon 
ledges  or  lodes  of  precious  metals  can  be 
taken  up  along  the  vein  to  the  length  of 
one  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  and  three 
hundred  feet  each  side  of  the  middle  of 
the  vein.  To  secure  patent,  five  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  work  must  be  performed 
and  five  dollars  an  acre  paid  for  the  land 
— twenty  acres.  Six  months'  failure  to  do 
work  forfeits  the  claim. 

Placer  Land. — Claims  usually  called 
''placers,"  including  all  forms  of  deposit, 
excepting  veins  of  quartz  or  other  rock  in 
place,  are  subject  to  entry  and  patent. 


■'n-j 


It 


,'(■•'(.  at 


74 


m 


KLONDIKE 


^o  Single  individual  can  1„    . 

t^-enty  acres  of  pW  "  'T"  """''  *^^ 

"-oanben.adfb;::':'^"'""'-- 
Posed  of  no  less  th        ^  ""'^P'^^y,  com- 

-o«,  exceed!  ;it\:!rr'''^« '°- 

«  two  dollars  and  a  half      W^  ''""' 

-tain  veins  or  lodest  0^:^'""^ 
five  dollars.  P^""  ^cre  is 

cators  accurately  malrr'"*  *"'  ^«- 

«'-■-•  Innaarki^tCt  r'"'*"' 
«»  ■•«  any  direction  that  Ci ,  r.  ""'^  '' 
^th  the  rights  or  J  °°'  '''^^^^'<' 

Wsdiscovet     L°    T'"^«-^P"-*° 

'Je'ayn.ayhe'avo^nrb-^'™'^"^ 
'"  the  matter  of  bZnl  ^"^  ^"''''■''"'^^ 
tials  are:  ''°"°dar,es.     The  essen- 

First— That     i-h 
marked    on    the   ;or„rH     ''°""'    "^ 
"■o-nds  of  earth  oTroek      ''/*"''''    '" 
;--  or  other  natural  oh';:;  \T''T 
The  notice    of   location    sCld  d "    ,"" 
^•"--orners,  so  that  they  :rhet2^ 


■iin  ,; 


iS^»--=*- 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


^to  more  than 
and  no  loca- 
npany,  com- 
^ona  fide  Jo- 
^  and  sixty 
^acer  claims 
^ere  placers 
per  acre  is 

Qt  that  Jo- 
'cribe  their 
^r  may  do 
t  interfere 
'^  pn'or  to 
'ose,   and 
^articular 
^©  essen- 


75 


fied  on  the  ground  by  the  description,  and, 
in  addition,  the  direction  and  distance  of 
one  of  the  corners  from  a  government 
corner  or  well-known  object,  such  as  a 
junction  of  roads,  trails  or  ravines-  a 
bridge,  building  of  any  kind,  or  natural 
feature,  as  rock,  etc. 

Mill  Site. — Five  acres  of  non-mineral 
land  may  be  taken  up  for  such  use,  and 
application  for  lode  patent  may  include 
mill  site,  distinctly  specifying  same;  or 
patent  for  mill  site  alone  may  be  applied 
for  by  person  not  owning  mine  in  connec- 
tion therewith.  Price,  five  dollars  per 
acre. 

Eight  of  Way. — Owners  or  locators  of 
mining  claims  may  acquire  a  right  of  way 
for  ingress  or  egress,  when  necessary  to 
properly  work  their  claim  or  claims,  over 
and  across  the  lands  or  mining  claims  of 
others. 

Eminent  Domain. — This  right  may  be 
exercised  to  condemn,  for  public  use,  ca- 
nals, etc.,  supplying  mines  with  water; 


h 


I 


jfi; 


mmm 


76 


KLONDIKR 


'S 


«^^Wp,   and    the   il  ''"^^''' °^"- 

^-^^W  be  assessed  17;^"'°*^   ''^--'>' 

"<""''-"  at  a  fat  t,  T  *'''  ^^-^ 
each.  '""^  ^'°luntary  sale  for 

Miner's  Lien.~AU  n. 
"P°n  or  furnishing  t^lf;':'7^  ^"'"^  -ork 
■»«>ng  claims  have  a^      '  '°''  "■"-  - 
^-  the  ^oric  done  or  J"!"  "T  *''^  «^»« 

'«ake  liberal  exemr.1  "■*"*  ^'^*e« 
''-^"mg  of  miner  foT';  ^'"'  '"'='"''« 
feed,  etc.  ' '°°'^' '^°'-«es  or  mules, 

^n^ted  states  cCfstrr''''   ■■"*"« 
eeed  t,vo  thousand  dnM  "°*  *°  ei- 

--*  at  hard  Ihor  tTt'^'  ^™'^"'^- 

^°*  to  exceed  fiv<, 


Aim  ALL   ABOUT  IT. 


77 


''"gr  mines; 
"'^  tailingj 

"^^'  the  fee 
'^e  United 
«n-     Min- 
iate own- 
ttereon, 
^^e  same 
saJe  for 

"§■  Work 
^ines  or 
^6  same 
'Shed. 

States 
delude 
fnuJes. 


years,  and  in  addition  persons  rendered 
incapable  of  giving  testimony  in  any  court. 
It  is  a  felory  to  sell  a  salted  mine;  to 
fraudulently  change  samples  or  assays 
with  intent  to  defraud;  to  make  or  give 
false  assay  or  sample  with  intent  to  de- 
fraud; to  rob  vein,  sluice  box,  quartz  mill, 
etc.,  or  trespassing  upon  mining  claim 
with  intent  to  commit  a  felony. 

It  is  a  misdemeanor  to  deface,  tear 
down,  or  destroy  a  post,  monument, 
boundary  mark,  or  location  notice,  or 
without  authority  to  take  water  from  any 
ditch,  pipe,  reservoir,  etc.,  or  to  unlaw- 
fully interfere  with  the  same. 

Coa'  Land. — Title  to  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  coal  land  can  be  had  by  pay- 
ing twenty  dollars  per  acre  if  within  fifteen 
miles  of  a  railway,  or  ten  dollars  per  acre 
if  beyond  that  limit.  An  association  or 
company  of  persons  can  secure  same  terms 
for  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  or 
less,  and  in  certain  cases  six  hundred  and 
forty  acres. 


78 

Klondike 

^ione  Land —Tin   * 
««ty  acres  of   Ian,  ""''  ^""""^'^  and 

'^-dstone,  etc.,  cTn  jr!,""^  ^^^»'*«. 
*-°  dollar,  and  a  h^, '!'"''  '^^  '^  -«' of 

"  "■*'   an  acre. 

"'EIGHT  AND   VALTTP   . 

^oJd  and  silver  ar«  i,       , 
troy  H^eight:  24  gral,  r^'*  ^''''  ^^^^  ^y 
pennyweights  1  ounce  ,0'''°"^''^^''  "^ 
The  Pri.e  establisheTh    1°"°'"'  '  P°""d. 
^^-tofficia,,  J';';' ^^'he  United  States 

g'-ades  of  fineness  hn  .  „  ,  °^  ^^"o«s 

as  follows:  ^  ^'*'"«  ^y  the  ounce 

GoM  3,000  fine  is  worth  «,o„«» 
Cold     qnn «      .  ■vO.s? 

«oid    'oonr'^"""'  '«•«« 

Gold     700  fi"""""    '"-3 

Gold     olfl      ""°^"'    "•^-■' 

Gold  ,^«"".""°^»'  '3-«0 
„  , .  "*  fi"e  is  wortl,  10  ^" 
Gold     400  fin„  •  " 

Gold    300  fi""""''     «2« 
Gold     000'".'^-°-"'      «.20 

Gold     Cfi""""     '-'^ 

All  natural  gold— tl.  ^  • 

8^°'d-that,s,  gold  extracted 


U_^V~. 


Fand 
[St  of 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT.  79 

from  recks  or  washed  from  the  beds  of 
streams — contains  more  or  less  silver,  plati- 
num, copper,  or  other  forms  of  alloy.  For 
this  reason  miners  are  often  disappointed 
when  they  sell,  as  they  imagine  all  gold 
to  be  pure. 

UNCLE   SAM'S   WEALTH. 

The  area  of  the  United  States  is  3,025,- 
600  square  miles;  with  Alaska  it  is  3,602,- 
990  square  miles,  equal  to  the  area  of  all 
Europe,  with  Italy  and  Turkey  excepted. 
Texas,  its  largest  State,  is  212  times  the 
size  of  Rhode  Island.  Texas  might  in- 
vite every  man,  woman,  and  child  now 
living  in  the  world  to  settle  within  its  ter- 
ritory, offering  each  individual  a  plot  of 
ground  49^x100  feet.  The  State  would 
not  be  really  crowded,  for  each  indi^  idual 
would  have  four  times  the  space  taken  by 
each  person  in  New  York  City.  England, 
Ireland,  Scotland,  Wales,  Italy,  and  Por- 
tugal could  be  transplanted  to  Texas,  and 
there  would  still  be  room  for  a  good-sized 


msmf 


f 


ft 


fff 


^fi 


80 


k:londik:e 


Promenade    wher«    .     • 

'•°P«-     Three  of  the  catlll         f  ""*  ''^  ^«- 

;7-as«„ehte4Crtfr^'^^-« 
I^'-'xJs.   which   ^e  Jre  ,  '"'"''^'' 

years  ago.  '"^  ^^nex  four 

«hows  the  true  vaJnJ  '''°"''  "^  ^8»0 
Price,  of  the  real  .n^  °'  "^  ^^'■''  «<'"«g 
tte  country  to  be  1^"""'  ^^°"**>-   '^ 

valuation  of  the  „r.  '''""  °°  the 

^^''o-^i-i^esthrrarrr-^^'-^ 

the  entire  world      Th         "^  "'«  mo»ey  of 
^-^   meaning   ,,,'^;'"-^-n"ot  grasp 

g'-aphic  illustration      tv^"'"'    ^^'"^°"t 

''°«ars  would  load  ;.>3  5!:r7"""'"^°'" 
'•^■■ng  a  ton.     If  o  „;:       '"'■*^'  <=^c''  oar- 

P»^  one  on  the  oth       hf "  '""^^  -«- 
«*a«k  three  feet  hi^r  A   r""'"  '°'-«  <* 
<='o«e  together  ti„  f  ^^1,  of     ';™'''''  ^"^^ 
iong  .nd   worth  ^-30    OO In        '^"'^  "^"^ 
■"°'ease  this  wall  "to  C  ^  ''  ''^'■""'''' 

-Si  mdes,  and  the 


i  ^.:i^%,ti^r,,x^iL3^ttki.4>^'r' 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


81 


amount  would  represent  our  national 
wealth.  Placed  side  by  side,  the  coins 
would  form  a  carpet  of  gold  covering  five 
square  miles. 

KLONDIKE    LETTERS. 

A  letter  from  Hart  Humber,  a  Cana- 
dian miner,  who  went  into  the  Klondike 
last  spring,  has  been  received.  It  bears 
date  of  June  18th,  and  gives  a  number  of 
iniCi*  sting  facts  which  have  not  been 
printed  and  which  throw  light  on  mining 
methods  in  the  new  camp.     He  writes  : 

*'  After  leaving  Dyea  we  had  a  trip  full 
of  hair-breadth  escapes,  and  .MTived  at 
Df'wson  on  June  9th.  We  were  about 
seventy  days  on  the  trip.  We  should 
have  started  either  a  month  earlier  or 
later,  as  we  struck  the  worst  time. 

"I  start  work  to-morrow  at  $1.50  an 
hour,  and  will  soon  have  a  job  which  has 
been  promised  to  me  at  an  ounce  of  gold 
daily.  On  the  boat  which  leaves  to-mor- 
row for  St.  Michael's  are  fifty  people  who 


II  ii 


82 


■f  ii 


S  ::' 


mil 


KLONDIKE 


'''''^  months    ao.^ 

each.  ^'n  «IO,000  to  .Jioo.poo 

"To-night  a  frien,)     . 
f  d  wiJi  ,ea^^       ';"j  of   mine  and  his 

'"^  '»  *ho  .shaa'e  to-dav        T""'"'"^  ^'^^^ 
°"   <^f --^ht  o„,^  one  ^T"^«  «"«  was 

^'^  ««nts,  but  flour  is  on,    ;  "  "'"^  ''"■"ts 

'^"sts  35  cents  perT      !    *^  «»««•     It 
P-ofced  out.       '      "'"''"'  *°  ^et  the  stuff 

^^-^'ole  Montr  ^^^"^--P  e- 

-*°ffort^.fives;ua;rr°*«^«'Ooo 

°*  ^m,000  out  o7!  T  '  ""''  ^"°*h- 
^-*-nd  other  stnCer^'f«-«<Juare 
P°'-'«d-     0]d.ti„ers  1  '      '^  "^''  ^--^  re- 
^'"fe««  this  .inre/    S''^'"  *°  «-te  big 

"^^     ^^''^««'-e  more  ways 


_J.'^9W>«fcii«HSl«Uj,_     .- 


are 

,000 


\his 

is 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


83 


of  making  money  here  than  in  an}'  place 
I  ever  saw." 

James  Kite,  a  former  resident  of  Ju- 
neau, where  he  was  engaged  as  a  manu- 
facturing jeweller,  in  a  letter  to  friends  by 
the  last  overland  mail  by  way  of  Dyea, 
says  : 

"  Gold  is  as  common  here  in  Dawson  as 
iron  is  in  Juneau.  Everybody  has  money. 
There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  this  district, 
and  they  are  striking  new  diggings  every 
few  days  for  a  hundred  miles  around,  and 
stampedes  are  the  rage.  Men  with  packs 
on  their  backs,  breaking  for  some  new 
creek  or  new  discovery,  are  met  at  every 
turn.  Some  are  leaving  good  pay  ground 
for  something  that  promises  better,  and  in 
this  way  the  country  is  being  explored  and 
prospected. 

'*I  have  built  a  shop  12  by  20  feet,  con- 
sisting of  a  tent  drawn  over  a  frame  of 
scantling,  and  am  doing  well,  working 
sixteen  hours  a  day,  and  with  all  the  work 
I  can  do.     For  making  a  half -ounce  ring 


( 


84 

KLONDIKE 

«g  north.  "  '^^  "^^te  now  steaw 

;^-tar;r£- ^^^^  ^-^ «... 

-«  kept  bact  byl2^'  ''^-'  to  go,  but 
*«««ts-     The  reason''  ^"'^  °*er  i„. 

-^<^ob,  return":;' ^;r'"^f«^en.i„e. 

^^''^  friends  at  the  r"''^'^**<"-« 
*"«teme„t  can  be  ilTT  ^^°''  e^ery 

'^''°^'^IKE  PACTS 

»^illiam  Sims  wj. 
^'-ka,   „i,™;'^^\P--dtv.o,ear.i„ 

*"''"t-es,   and  ::3*t     "'°'^  -'^   "" 
.'^"'-^  -  Bonan Jorir^  ''"'  «-*  to 

'"^-""•-  -  to  the  pr^blht^^f"^  *« 


-«*■  «»;'igi«w-rt.. 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


85 


\$25. 


ff 


ler 


suffering  among  those  now  going  in  over 
the  Dyea  trail,  said  that  the  great  majority 
of  those  he  had  been  outfitting  here  were 
well  provided  against  hardships  in  the 
way  of  proviso ^'iS  and  clothing,  and,  like 
soldiers,  carried  their  tents  with  them  as 
protection  against  storms  and  bad  weather. 
He  said  there  was  no  more  danger  in  mak- 
ing this  trip  than  is  experienced  ordinarily 
in  any  mountainous  country.  Those  un- 
dertaking the  journey  now  were  as  well 
provided  against  weather  and  famine  as 
the  thousands  who  had  preceded  them. 
Sims  was  successful  in  the  Klondike,  re- 
turning with  a  comfortable  amount  of 
dust  and  still  holding  interest  in  claims 
which  are  being  worked  by  his  partner. 
He  intends  to  return  to  the  Klondike  in 
the  spring. 

G.  H.  Cole  says  in  a  letter  to  his  wife 
from  Daw  son  : 

*'  This  is  a  wonderful  country.  There 
is  enough  gold  here  to  load  a  steamboat. 
Lots  of  men  have  made  all  they  want 


.,..'.a;>:,^.'/.N.v..'At 


4f/ 


86 


KLONDIKE 


^^*^ce  last  falj   .    , 

««  gave  the  ™i,3,/7;'«  carry  it  out 
''^  '-anted  vvith  it     h       "  "^  -J"  v-hat 

««  --  a    Seattle 
^«ere  was  nn 

^°^*  '«f'  he  «.as  ?oui  f  ^?   "^^ore  the 
■*^6  Wa^  oi^     •         ^"na  dead  in    i,-     , 
*^^s  sleepinp.  in  fi.  ^^s   bed 

;-^h-dre/,e!t  ;  ':  tJ'  °«-  aho; 

.^°*°g.     So«e  of  The    "■'  ^«  ^e'-e 

'T"  °"'  to  the  n^ile^  '"'"   "h°  have 

f  "^  '^^'•e  than   tt  ;?"^  *''«'•«  '•«  more 

;'"««'  and  some  oZu         ^^  '»  *te.r 

,^;-.^-ninaimo:j:;''^«--,.ho 

*"««"' the  world.  lr",'^f«'''^'ng  conn. 
^''^^  --cr    s«^.    7X„'  '^«*«  anything 
;^'»P«  they  have  uT'    ^^^^^    of    the 

*^^«  a"  their  coofci„„  1  ^^f''  '^^P^  they 

^"*^"«''s  full  of  gold. 


-»i^S5Sps*«»a»,. 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


87 


standing  in  corners  as  if  it  were  dirt. 
Some  are  taking  out  $100,000  a  day.  Old 
miners  say  there  has  been  enough  gold 
located  to  dig  up  for  the  next  twenty 
years,  besides  that  in  the  ground  that  has 
not  been  located.  I  never  had  better 
health  in  my  life,  but  don^t  know  how  I 
look,  because  I  haven't  seen  myself  since 
I  left  home.  Mosquitoes  are  so  thick 
that  I  can't  eat,  sleep,  or  write  in  comfort. 

"Well,  as  it  is  getting  late,  not  dark 
(for  it  has  not  been  dark  since  we  got 
here),  I  will  have  to  close  my  letter;  but 
before  closing  will  say  we  have  very 
warm  weather — no  rain,  all  sunny  days." 
— N.  Y.  Sun. 

Under  date  of  June  22d  Mr.  B.  E. 
Janes,  a  University  of  California  gradu- 
ate, who  has  charge  of  the  assay  office  in 
the  Klondike  district,  writes  from  Dawson 
City: 

*'  Bonanza  and  El  Dorado  creeks  have 
turned  out  very  much  better  than  any  one 
expected.     Probably  $800,000  has  already 


U 


i 


88 


KLONDigj. 


''«en  taken  out      Th 
«-ny  millions.    Go,?  r'"  ''■'^'^'y  turn  out 
;-'-^oo.„,o„''lV-'---rpIenti- 
J''«nty.    Dawson  is  J"    ^"f  ^^  °"«  has 

.^'^^t  1.000  men  (Che  etT   '"^'^  ''"'"P- 
'"  -  fe'--     Ko.st  o    th?^^^«^  have  eonfe 

^''°"' tiae  best.     Las  f!nf""''  ^^^  ''<'«« 
r"^''topayj;f2"^ehadn'tn,oney 

"o-niastnigh^,:       °2''"-     ««  --' 
.'^°'^-     He  has  with  . !    ^   ^^  °"'  t°-mor- 
■"  P'^oer  dust.     BesiJ  ""'  '°'  P°«"ds 
'"-'  for  running;  :";^  ^f  '«"  -ffi. 
^^^^  -nd  paid  tlte  1?""  '""■  *'«  "e.t 
^-ear-labor  «i  50  I      f  °'^'  "^  'he  past 
;he  expenses  ;e;^  j^i;  ''°«;'  -hich  «akes 
"'EI  Dorado     Th.        ^'"'^^''^  i^  No 

J'ron,J^os.4,5,andlE,t""''^^h- 
'>amed  Berry  has  tat  °''^'^'''  ^  ^an 

2"^°--ath::,ttrr"^'*^'''''0<'« 
^^'^-wthirdsT  :::-;^««o,ain.. 

■  ^'"  have  an  aye- 


j^jjn   Ai-ti  ABOVjf  IT. 


89 


.age  market  value  of  $15,000  to  $30,uOO. 
A  short  time  ago  a  man  bought  a  claim  for 
$4:,  500.  He  set  some  men  to  rocking  and 
they  took  out  several  hundred  to  $1,000  a 
day  each,  and  he  was  able  to  make  his 
payment  all  right.  A  claim  four  numbers 
below  mine  sold  for  $10,200  to  a  man  who 
hadn't  any  money.  When  the  payment 
became  due,  which  was  not  in  very  many 
days,  he  sold  a  half-interest  for  $10,000 
cash  and  met  his  payment,  keeping  the 
dump  which  had  been  taken  out  during 
the  winter,  containing  about  $5,000  net. 

"A  man  on  El  Dorado  has  a  claim  from 
which  he  has  taken  $20,000.  He  is  now 
ready  to  sluice  and  expects  it  to  yield 
$1,000  per  day  to  each  man  he  employs, 
which  will  mean  several  hundred  thousand 
dollars  this  season. 

**  The  other  boys  who  worked  in  the  store 
have  done  very  well.  Stauf  quit  in  Feb- 
ruary and  has  property  worth  tens  of  thou- 
sands, and  has  more  money  to  handle  than 
any  other  man  here.     Baker,  who  is  still 


i 


.^^ 


•iU 


^% 


V\* 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


£  m 


22 

IS. 


i.25 

1.4 

1.6 

-^ 

6"     — 

► 

V] 


<? 


4 


o 


el 


c^. 


<rl 


*>, 

f>A 


O 


A 


/A 


s 


'///. 


7 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


m 


4. 


<> 


•% 


V 


^  v'^6\ 


;v^ 


4s  V 


%^ 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-45C3 


90 


KL0ND1KJ3- 


in  the  employ  of  the  company,  sold  his  in- 
terests for  $7,000  or  $8,000.  One  man  has 
been  buying  very  heavily.  He  owes  over 
$100,000  to  be  paid  very  soon,  but  his 
original  claim  on  El  Dorado  is  expected  to 
pay  $30,000  to  a  box  length — i.e.,  12  feet. 
I  could  not  believe  it  till  I  came  up  here 
and  saw  the  amount  of  gold  and  handled 
it. 

"The  company  lost  a  steamer  this  spring 
The  Arctic,  which  I  came  up  on  last  year, 
wintered  near  Forty  Mile.  The  water 
fell  very  fast  in  the  river  after  the  ice 
went  out,  and  left  the  steamer  high  and 
dry  on  big  blocks  of  ice  in  a  slough  where 
the  ice  had  pushed  her.  In  trying  to  get 
her  out  powder  was  used  to  break  the 
ice  underneath  her,  and  one  charge  blew 
her  up— that  is,  loosened  the  ice  suddenly 
and  subjected  her  to  severe  strains,  so 
that  the  bottom  leaked  very  badly.  The 
water  began  to  rise  and  rose  very  fast. 
Finally  it  got  so  high  and  the  current  so 
strong  through  the  slough  that  it  carried 


If 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


91 


the  boat  out  into  the  river,  and  she 
stranded  on  a  bar  a  mile  and  a  half  fur- 
ther d.  wn.  They  have  left  the  hull  there, 
but  taken  out  the  machinery  and  sent  it 
down  to  be  put  into  a  barge.  The  Bella^ 
a  boat  built  last  summer,  arrived  at  Forty 
Mile  June  1st,  having  wintered  at  Fort 
Yukon,  about  eighty  miles  below  Circle 
City.  She  had  a  fair  cargo  of  provisions, 
which  were  taken  to  Dawson,  arriving 
here  the  2d,  since  which  time  the  receipts 
have  been  over  $40,000. 

"On  June  IGth  the  steamer  Alice  arrived 
at  Forty  Mile,  having  wintered  at  An- 
drosky,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  about 
300  miles  this  side  of  St.  Michael's.  She 
brought  a  good  many  provisions  and  other 
articles.  I  came  up  on  her  to  Dawson 
with  my  outfit.  Labor  is  $1  per  hour 
here  and  scarce.  Building  material  is 
hard  to  get,  and  so  the  store  buildings  are 
progressing  slowly. 

"  I  am  working  in  the  store  at  present, 
receiving  the  dust  for  the  sales.     It  keeps 


\i 


92 


KLONDIKE 


me  very  busy  sometimes.  Yesterday  the 
sales  were  $4,500.  To-night  I  weighed 
up  a  shipment  of  over  2,000  ounces  to  go 
by  the  Alice  to-morrow.  Our  safe  is  al- 
most as  full  as  it  can  be,  and  contains 
about  $150,000  to  $200,000,  deposited  in 
small  and  large  lots  for  safe-keeping. 
Heretofore  all  gold  has  been  taken  at  $17 
per  ounce.  With  the  dirt  and  all  in  it,  it 
would  not  average  quite  that.  I  have 
made  twenty-three  assays  of  the  placer 
gold  so  far. 

**The  gold  in  this  district  is  much  lower 
than  in  the  others,  some  not  going  $14, 
dirt  and  all.  For  drafts  or  currency  we 
pay  only  $15.25  for  it.  The  miners  don't 
like  it,  and  think  I  must  be  wrong.  The 
other  day  a  man  who  went  out  in  the 
winter  took  out  dust  which  contained  El 
Dorado  gold.  He  got  $17.10  per  ounce 
after  it  was  melted.  As  soon  as  the  miners 
heard  it  they  were  tickled  to  death  and 
knew  I  was  wrong.  When  I  met  the 
man  I  found  out  the  gold  included  a  good 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


93 


deal  of  Forty  Mile  gold,  and  $17.10  after 
melting  is  only  c^ual  to  about  $16.50 
before,  so  I  think  the  assays  I  made  will 
stand,  though  made  on  small  samples. 

' '  Every  day  there  is  a  stampede  for  a 
new  creek.  Every  little  stream  for  miles 
around  will  be  located.  This  country  will 
pay  to  tie  to  for  money-making.  It  has 
been  but  little  prospected." — Mining  and 
Scientific  Press. 

Mr.  J.  O.  Hestwood,  one  of  the  most 
successful  argonauts  of  1897,  has  just  re- 
turned from  Klondike  and  furnishes  a 
true  picture  of  Alaska  as  it  really  is.  Mr. 
Hestwood  makes  some  surprising  state- 
ments. He  says  there  is  gold  in  Alaska 
for  a  hundred  thousand  miners  for  a  hun- 
dred years,  yet  he  points  out  the  surpass- 
ing dangers  that  must  be  encountered, 
and  graphically  describes  the  four  demons 
that  guard  the  gold  as  Hardship,  Suffer- 
ing, Disappointment,  and  Starvation. 

"The  rainbow  of  promise  is  spanning  the 
sky  of  this  nation.     Alaska  with  her  icy 


j... 


•  •  n 


.. ,. 


94 


KLONDIKE 


;#*! 


,'i'\? 


■A' 


i 


At 


■t  ■ 


•Mil 


diamonds  and  heart  of  gold  has  arisen  in 
her  majesty  in  the  north  to  declare  to  a 
disheartened  people,  in  the  darkest  hour 
of  their  national  history,  that  their  silver 
anniversary  has  long  since  passed  and 
their  golden  wedding  is  at  hand. 

"  Modern  or  ancient  history  records  no- 
thing so  rich  in  extent  as  the  recent  dis- 
coveries of  gold  on  the  tributaries  of  the 
Yukon  River.  The  few  millions  of  dollars 
recently  turned  into  the  banks  and  smel- 
ters of  Seattle  and  San  Francisco  from  the 
Klondike  district  are  but  a  slight  indica- 
tion of  what  is  to  follow  in  the  near  future. 
When  we  consider  the  fact  that  there  is 
scarcely  a  shovelful  of  soil  in  Alaska  and 
the  Northwest  Territory  that  does  not 
yield  grains  of  gold  in  appreciable  quanti- 
ties, who  can  compute  the  value  of  the 
golden  treasure  that  the  great  country 
will  yield  in  the  next  few  years? 


ii  '1  - 


•iit 


II' 


li   I 


ffeii 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


95 


ROOM  FOR  A  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  MINERS 
FOR  A   HUNDRED   YEARS. 

"  The  Yukon  River,  which  forms  a  great 
artery  flowing  through  this  frozen,  rock- 
ribbed  region  for  two  thousand  six  hun- 
dred miles,  seems  to  be  a  providential 
highway,  opened  up  for  the  pioneer  gold 
hunters  and  their  followers,  who  are  num- 
bered by  thousands  yearly.  There  is  room 
in  that  country  for  a  hundred  thousand 
miners  for  a  hundred  years.  I  do  not 
make  this  statement  from  what  some  one 
else  has  told  me  or  from  what  I  have 
read.  I  speak  from  actual  experience  in 
that  land  of  gold.  I  have  travelled  over 
her  rivers  of  ice  and  mountains  of  snow 
in  the  springtime  for  three  years.  In 
summer  I  have  scaled  her  moss-covered 
mountains,  have  packed  heavy  loads  across 
her  bald  hills,  have  taken  dirt  from  the 
mountain  top,  from  the  hillside,  and  from 
the  beds  of  the  streams.  I  have  found 
Alaska  to  be  pre-eminently  a  gold-bearing 
country,   and  if  she  enjoyed   the  genial 


:li 


d6 


KLONDIKE 


,'5 


.1/ 


W     i 


1     1 


warmth  of  a  southern  clime,  California, 
South  Africa,  and  Australia  in  their 
palmiest  days  could  not  be  compared  to 
her  as  a  gold-producing  region. 

"  Four  years  ago  last  May,  when  I  first 
went  into  that  country,  little  was  known 
of  its  wonderful  possibilities.  With  a 
heavy  outfit  strapped  to  the  backs  of  In- 
dians, squaws,  and  dogs,  I  struggled  over 
the  trail  from  Dyea,  on  the  southern  coast 
of  Alaska,  to  Sheep  Camp,  twelve  miles 
distant,  which  was  my  first  camping  place. 
The  softening  snow,  under  the  sun^s  hot 
rays,  rendered  travelling  difficult,  and  it 
was  a  pitiable  sight  to  watch  the  half- 
starved,  half-clothed  Indians  struggling 
along  with  their  heavy  burdens  on  their 
backs,  climbing  the  mountain  side,  fre- 
quently breaking  through  drifted  snow 
and  being  buried  almost  out  of  sight; 
wading  icy  streams,  falling  from  foot-logs, 
and  enduring  hardships  from  which  death 
would  seem  a  welcome  relief. 

"The  endurance  of  these    Indians,  or 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


97 


human  beasts  of  burden,  was  a  constant 
surprise  to  me.  I  remember  one  young 
buck  whose  smallest  load  was  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds.  His  wife  was  a  young 
squaw,  who,  with  seventy-five  pounds 
strapped  to  her  back  and  a  four- weeks-old 
child  in  her  arms,  struggled  up  the  Chilkoot 
Pass,  where  the  declivity  was  so  steep 
that  we  were  compelled  to  dig  steps  in  the 
ice  anr'  snow  in  order  to  make  the  ascent. 
One  poor  old  Indian,  I  remember,  had  but 
half  a  dozen  small  caudlefish  and  one 
grouse  to  subsist  on  for  three  days. 


THE   HORRORS   OP    CHILKOOT   PASS. 

*'  We  were  landed  on  the  summit  of 
Chilkoot  Pass,  4,100  feet  above  the  sea 
level,  at  Dica,  in  the  midst  of  a  terrific 
snowstorm,  such  as  takes  place  frequently 
on  this  pass  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  en- 
dangering the  lives  of  many  who  attempt 
going  over  it.  The  blinding  snow  ren- 
dered it  dangerous  in  the  extreme  to  at- 
tempt the  descent  from  the  mountain,  to- 


98 


tCLONWKR 


■  h 


:>{ 


ward  Lake  Linderman,  the  head  waters 
of  the  Yukon  River.  To  make  matters 
worse,  the  clouds  set  down  on  the  moun- 
tain top  and  we  dared  not  leave  the  camp 
for  more  than  a  few  hundred  feet,  for  fear 
we  might  lose  our  footing  and  be  plunged 
over  a  precipice  or  into  some  yawning 
chasm  in  the  mountain.  A  misstep  meant 
death. 

**  We  took  shovels  and  dug  a  hole  in  the 
ice  and  snow  and  spread  a  tent  over  it, 
placing  sacks  of  provisions  on  the  tent  to 
weight  it  down  so  the  fierce  w  ind  could  not 
carry  it  away.  Our  supper  consisted  of  a 
cup  of  tea  and  a  few  crumbs  of  bread. 
We  then  wrapped  our  blankets  about  us 
and  lay  down  to  listen  to  the  hov/ling  of 
an  Alaskan  storm,  which  seemed  to  shake 
the  very  mountain  with  its  violence, 

"  Great  glaciers  were  sleeping  all  around 
us,  but  there  was  little  sleep  for  the  weary 
travellers  that  night.  The  glaciers,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  be  endowed  with  life  and 
fits   of  wakefulness,  for  every  now  and 


AND  ALL   ABOUT  IT. 


99 


then  we  would  hear  a  crackling  sound, 
followed  by  a  noise  as  of  crashing  thunder, 
and  ten  thousand  tons  of  sleeping  giants 
would  be  precipitated  from  the  mountain 
heights  and  shattered  into  icy  diamonds 
to  feed  the  roaring  torrents  in  the  chasms 
far  below. 

**  Morning  broke  bright  and  clear.  There 
was  no  wood  on  the  mountain  top  and  we 
were  compelled  to  chop  up  a  sled  for  fuel. 
This  was  expensive.  We  tried  to  break- 
fast on  a  pot  of  half-cooked  beans  and  a 
little  coffee,  which  would  freeze  at  the 
slightest  provocation.  Two  sleds  were 
then  loaded  with  provisions  and  started 
down  the  mountain.  They  went  with  a 
velocity  as  if  fired  from  a  cannon  until 
they  struck  the  ice  in  Crater  Lake,  three- 
(juarters  of  a  mile  below.  After  that  every 
foot  of  ground  we  gained  was  by  the  most 
excruciating  labor  a  human  being  can  be 
subjected  to. 

"  Two  weeks  were  consumed  in  reaching 
Lake  Linderman,  eleven  miles  further  on. 


:=:! 


loo 


KLONDIKE 


1- '  1 


V  < 


Lit'--  '  i 


r-jJ  f  i 


i  ' 


rliil 


Another  week  had  passed  before  a  boat 
was  completed  with  which  we  could  make 
our  way  down  the  river.  While  in  camp 
at  Lake  Linderman  one  of  the  party  in- 
jured his  knee,  and  three  times  a  hunting 
knife  had  to  be  brought  into  requisition 
and  incisions  made.  Only  after  the  most 
careful  nursing  was  he  able  to  proceed  on 
the  journey.  Men  are  often  taken  with 
snow  blindness  in  that  country  and  lie 
helpless  for  days  in  their  cents,  unable  to 
cook  enough  to  sustain  life.  If  deserted 
by  their  companions  in  this  condition 
their  fate  is  sealed. 

STRANDED   AND   STARVING   IN   THE 
WILDERNESS. 

*  *  After  reaching  Lake  Bennett,  the  sec- 
ond of  the  great  chain  of  lakes  at  the  head 
waters  of  the  Yukon,  on  the  left  side  of 
the  lake  we  beheld  a  man  jumping  up  and 
down  and  motioning  us  that  way.  A  few 
minutes  later  we  made  a  landing,  took 
him  into  the  boat,  and  learned  that  he  had 


il'; 


■«ll 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


101 


been  three  days  without  food  and  shelter. 
His  boat  had  been  wrecked  and  all  his 
provisions  lost.  Wo  rescued  him  from 
starvation  and  passed  on  to  the  lower  end 
of  the  lake.  Here  we  wer^  into  camp  on 
the  shore,  near  where  three  •  len  the  day 
before  had  lost  their  b-at  and  all  their 
provisions,  with  the  except* on  jf  a  few 
pounds  of  beans  and  a  sack  of  flour. 

* '  From  this  point  on  we  encountered  few 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  river  trant:  ^orta- 
tion  until  we  reached  Forty  Mile,  which 
is  located  where  the  141st  meridian  crosses 
the  Yukon.  Between  Marsh  Lake  and 
Lake  Le  Barge  there  are  sixty  miles  of  river 
in  which  occur  the  Grand  Caiion  and  the 
White  Horse  Rapids.  Before  reaching 
Grand  Caiion  the  river  is  wide  and 
smooth,  when  all  at  once  the  water  is 
forced  through  the  canon  at  incredible 
speed.  The  canon  is  a  crevice  where  the 
mountain  has.  been  split  in  twain,  appa- 
rently, to  make  an  outlet  for  the  water. 
The  walls  are  perpendicular  on  either  side. 


'  M 


^1 


1 
I      I 


102 


KLONDIKE 


rising  to  a  height  of  one  hundred  feet. 
Three  miles  below  are  the  White  Horse 
Rapids,  the  most  dangerous  portion  of  the 
Yukon  River. 

"At  this  point  the  water,  being  forced 
over  great  rocks  which  obstruct  the 
stream,  appears  like  ten  thousand  steeds 
of  snowy  whiteness  rushing  into  battle. 
It  is  always  advisable  to  keep  well  to  the 
left-hand  shore  at  this  point,  letting  the 
boat  down  with  a  long  rope  from  the  top 
of  a  precipitous  bank  on  the  left  until  the 
falls  are  reached,  then  portage  all  the  pro- 
visions about  three  hundred  yards  below 
the  falls  ;  then,  making  sure  that  the  long 
ropes  are  securely  fastened  to  the  boat, 
push  it  out  into  the  maddened  current  and 
let  it  take  its  course,  keeping  the  rope  free 
from  all  obstructions  along  the  shore. 
When  J^^ive  Finger  Rapids  are  reached, 
pass  through  the  right-hand  opening,  and 
six  miles  below,  at  Rink  Rapids,  keep 
near  the  right-hand  bank. 


(i-ti'i'Wi 


fm 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


103 


,  PK..RV  TB.I.  or   .O.K.Y  OKAVKS. 

ouspointso£  danger  and  a    ng^^^^^^^ 

r^f  the  river  man>    b^'* 
tion   ot   tae  ^         ^a,id 

in  *e-  1-*  "^^Tirthe  lonely  graves 
the  frozen  ground  .nark  1  ^^^^^^    .^ 

of     fathers    a.d    sons  ^^^^  .^  ^j^^ 

waited  for  in  vam  by  lov  ^^.      .^^_ 

rTro'STorfrien:  away  in  t.a. 

till  r,on,  w.ere  only  -^^^^^^^ 
congregate  to  mourn  a   eq^-iem  .^ 

„      T  qimnlV  mention  tuese  i^i 
graves.     1  «'™P  ^  t^nks  of  gomg 

order  that  -^ J^ J    ^^„,  beforehand 
into  that  -u;try  'nay  .^  ^^^^^^^^ 

that  the  search  ^or  go  ^^.^^  ^^^^^ 

^yl'f^^^P^irstbeyhave  penetrated 

'"^''^'anlandofthemidnightsun."- 
the  American  lana  oi 

jVew;  York  World, 


104 


KLONDIKE 


•■  -^T 


ESTIMATED   GOLD   PRODUCT  OF   1897. 

**  That  gold  exists  in  large  quantities  in 
the  newly  discovered  Klondike  district  is 
sufficiently  proven  by  the  large  amount 
recently  brought  out  by  the  steamship 
companies,  and  miners  returning  to  the 
States  who  went  into  the  district  within 
the  last  eighteen  months.  So  far  $1,500,- 
000  in  gold  from  the  Klondike  district  has 
been  deposited  at  the  mints  and  assay  of- 
fices of  the  United  States,  and  from  infor- 
mation now  at  hand  there  are  substantial 
reasons  for  believing  that  from  $3,000,000 
to  $-4,000,000  additional  will  be  brought 
out  by  the  steamers  and  returning  miners 
sailing  from  St.  Michael's  the  last  of  Sep- 
tember or  early  October  next.  One  of  the 
steamship  companies  states  that  it  expects 
to  bring  out  about  $2,000,000  on  its  steamer 
sailing  from  St.  Michael's  September  30th, 
and  has  asked  the  government  to  have  a 
revenue  cutter  act  as  a  convoy  through 
the   Behring  Sea.     In  view  of  the  facts 


i\;    . 


I    '"'IH 


'  "  pi 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


lOS 


above  stated,  I  am  justified  in  estimating 
that  the  Klondike  district  will  augmant 
the  world's  gold  supply  in  1897  nearly 
$6,000,000. 

''  The  gold  product  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  for  1896,  as  estimated  by  Dr.  G. 
M.  Dawson,  director  of  the  geological  sur- 
vey of  that  country,  was  $3,810,000.  Of 
this  sum  the  Yukon  placers  within  British 
territory  were  credited  with  a  production 
of  $355,000.  The  total  product  of  that 
country  for  1897  has,  therefore,  been  esti- 
mated at  $10,000,000,  an  increase  over 
1896  of  $7,200,000.  From  this  the  rich- 
ness of  the  newly  discovered  gold  fields  of 
the  Klondike  is  evident. 

**  In  this  connection  it  is  important  to 
know  what  will  be  the  probable  increase 
in  the  several  countries  of  the  world,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  comparison,  based  upon 
information  received,  the  following  table 
of  the  gold  product  of  the  United  States, 
Australia,  Africa,  Mexico,  the  Dominion 
of  Canada,  Russia,  and  British  India  for 


ft 


ij 

1 


irM 


{,! 


1     t 


106  KLONDIKE 

1896,  and  the  estimated  product  of  thes* 
countries  for  1897,  is  here  gvien: 

1896.  1897.  Increase 

United  States....  $53,000,000  $60,000,000  $7,000,000 

Australia 40,2.50,000  .52,000,000  .5,750,000 

Africa 44,000,000  50,000,000  12,000,000 

Mexico 7,000,000  9,000,000  2,000,000 

Dom.  of  Canada..      3,810,000  10,000,000  7,190,000 

Russia 22,000,000  25,000,000  3,000,000 

British  India 5,82.5,000  7,000,000  1,175,000 

Totals $180,885,000    $219,000,000    $38,115,000 

**  The  world's  gold  product  for  1896  is 
estimated  to  have  been  $205,000,000.  In 
justification  of  the  above  estimate  of  the 
increase  in  the  countries  mentioned,  I  may 
remark  that  of  the  United  States  is  based 
upon  the  deposits  at  the  mints  and  assay- 
offices  for  the  first  six  months  of  the  year, 
which  clearly  indicate  a  largely  increased 
production,  and  that  the  increase  for  the 
year  will  aggregate  $7,000,000.  The  gold 
product  of  Africa  for  1896  is  estimated  to 
have  been  $44,000,000.  For  the  first  six 
months  of  1897  the  output  of  the  Wit- 


^lu\\ 


•i 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


107 


.ate^srandt  n^ine.  as  shown  by  om^ai 

„  1  Its  431  ounces,  an  i">-' 
returns,  was  1,33S,*>  ^  ^it^  the 

of  333,9.8  ounces  as  compared   ^^  ^^  ^^ 
first  si.  months    of     89«-  .^  ^^^^ 

aoubtthatthera^     ofY;^^^,„,^,„,^ 
Witwatersrandt  tmnes  ^^^  ^^^^ 

fortheremamder        ;bj    .^^^^^^^.^__ 
output  o£  gold  for  1897  w. 

000,000  greater  than  «-* ;\;^f^,,,,,Uaa 
«  The  deposits  o£  gold  at  the  A 

rrt;:..ehasiso.thed^p^ 

its  £or  the  first  five  months  -'^^^ 

tbe  Australian  Insurance -^^  B 
Becord  for  the  month  of  June  e 

-'''-'  Sr  aTu'of  f5.,550,000.     This 
rlhe  In  Urease  o£  .5,750,000  over 

:r:tr  rvriSate;  that .. 


11 


108 


KLONDIKE 


product  for  1897  will  approximate  $9,000,- 
000,  an  increase  of  $2,000,000. 

"  The  Russian  product  for  1896  was 
$22,000,000;  for  1897  it  is  estimated  at  $25,- 
000,000,  an  increase  of  $3,000,000. 

"  The  gold  product  of  British  India  for 
1896,  from  official  information  received, 
is  estimated  at  $5,825,000.  The  returns 
of  the  mines  for  the  first  six  months  of 
1897  indicate  an  increased  production  over 
1806  of  $1,200,000. 

*'  From  the  data  above  given,  it  is  safe 
to  estimate  that  the  seven  countries  above 
named  will  show  an  increase  in  their  gold 
output  for  1897  over  1896  of  $38,700,000, 
and  that  the  world's  product  for  1897  can 
therefore  be  estimated  at  not  less  than 
8240,000,000.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
world's  product  of  gold  will  continue  to 
increase  for  a  number  of  years  to  come, 
as  new  mines  will  be  opened  up  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and,  with  improved 
appliances  for  mining  and  methods  of  ex- 
tracting  the  gold  contained  in  the  ores, 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


109 


I  believe  that  by  the  close  of  the  present 
century  the  world's  gold  product  will 
closely  approximate,  if  not  exceed,  $300,- 
000,000. 

"  I  have  spoken  above  of  the  addition 
likely  to  be  made  in  1C97  to  the  world's 
stock  of  gold  by  the  Klondike  district,  by 
the  Transvaal,  by  the  United  States,  Aus- 
tralia, Russia,  Mexico,  India,  etc.  Of  all 
these  gold-producing  countries,  of  course 
the  Klondike  is  at  present  the  one  of  most 
absorbing  interest.  It  strikes  the  imagi- 
nation to-day  as  California  did  the  minds 
of  the  Forty-niners.  It  will  add  in  1897 
possibly  $0,000,000  to  the  gold  treasure  of 
the  world. 


* 


INFLUENCE   OF   THE   ADDITION. 

*'  Now  as  to  the  influence  of  such  addi- 
tion to  the  world's  gold.  The  influence  it 
will  exert  depends  mainly  on  how  many 
years  the  Klondike  district  shall  continue 
a  producer,  and  how  large  its  annual  in- 
crement to  the  world's  existing  stock  of 


wmm 


i^ 


!"r  1 5 


If    I 


I  i 


I'  '■'     i 


110 


KLONDIKE 


gold  shall  be.  There  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  Alaska  and  the  adjacent  Brit- 
ish territory  are  possibly  as  rich  in  gold  as 
was  California  or  Australia  when  first 
discovered.  I  have  estimated  that  e 
Klondike  district  will  in  1897  produce 
$6,000,000  worth  of  gold.  It  will  add  to 
this  product  from  year  to  year  probably 
for  a  minimum  of  one  or  two  decades. 
And  whether  the  gold  comes  from  Ame- 
rican or  British  territory  is  a  matter  of  in- 
difference except  to  the  owners  and,  to 
some  extent,  to  the  countries  producing 
it.  The  effect  of  the  increase  on  the  econ- 
omic condition  of  mankind,  on  the  rate  of 
discount,  the  rate  of  interest,  the  rate  of 
wages,  on  prices  and  on  monetary  policies, 
of  a  newly-discovered  gold  field  of  wonder- 
ful richness,  is  the  same,  whether  the  field 
be  located  in  American,  British,  or  Chinese 
territory. 

"Now,  the  first  influence  that  the  new 
addition  to  the  world's  existing  stock  of 
gold  will  have  will  be  felt  by  silver.     In 


Hi.  t- 
[  'r  r 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


Ill 


fact,  it  has  already  been  felt  by  it.  Gold 
is  the  natural  competitor — we  might  al- 
most say  antagonist — of  silver  as  a  mone- 
tary medium,  and  every  ounce  of  gold 
newly  placed  on  the  market  deprives  from 
1 7^  to  35  ounces  of  silver  of  a  possible  em- 
ployment as  money  that  it  might  have. 
I  say  this  because  gold,  weight  for  weight, 
is  now  worth  thirty-six  and  six-tenths 
times  as  much  as  silver,  and  because,  at 
most,  half  of  the  gold  discovered  finds 
industrial  employment. 

'*  The  new  additions  to  the  world's  stock 
of  gold,  whether  they  come  from  the 
Klondike,  Cripple  Creek,  or  the  Trans- 
vaal, from  India,  Australia,  or  Russia, 
will  render  bimetallism  by  the  United 
States  alone  more  difficult  and  more  im- 
probable than  ever,  and  will  even  seri- 
ously imperil  the  slender  chances  that  in- 
ternational bimetallism  now  has. 

"  Bimetallists  have  long  been  asking  the 
question  where  the  gold  is  to  be  found 
that  is  to  take  the  place  of  the  silver  de- 


112 


KLONDIKE 


il 


I  )] 


monetized.  The  discoveries  at  Cripple 
Creek,  in  the  Transvaal,  and  on  the  Klon- 
dike are  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. The  mines  of  the  world  have  been 
turning  out  gold  of  late  years  in  greater 
profusion  than  ever  before.  The  year 
1893  marks  an  epoch  in  this  respect.  In 
the  report  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint 
upon  the  production  of  the  precious  metals 
in  the  United  States  during  the  calendar 
year  1893  I  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  world's  output  of  gold  in  that 
year  was  the  largest  in  history,  amount- 
ing to  $155,522,000,  and  that  it  was  1G.08 
per  cent  greater  than  the  annual  average 
of  the  period  of  the  greatest  productive- 
ness of  the  Californian  and  Australian 
gold  mines.  And  in  the  report  of  the 
same  series  of  the  calendar  year  1894  I 
remarked  that  the  value  of  the  world's 
production  of  gold  in  that  year  not  only 
equalled  the  average  value  of  both  gold 
and  silver  in  the  period  18C1-18G5,  but 
exceeded  it  by  $11,204,000,  and  that  the 


XND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


1:3 


^-^r S totwput  o.  goU  in 
the  value  of  the  wo  ^^,^ 

1805  and  1800  would  ^^^^j;      ceding 

the  beginmng  of  h  ^  P  ^^^.^^^.  ^^  the 
^^''"rSfs-the  average  annual 
events  of  1804,  sine  ^^untries  m 

,,,U1  of  gold  an  ^:-  t,ea  that  of 
the  penod  18CC-1«.^^^^^^^^^^^  ,,,^000. 
gold  alone  m  IbM  oy  reaches 

«  the  produc^n;    .c^d  -  ^^^.  ^^,,,,  , 
the  figure,  ^^^"^^^^ '°.,    ,^ui  exceed  the 

,,ui,  of  ^240,000, 00,  ^  -  „a 

average  yearly  v^-;^^^^;,,,  the  period 
,Uvev  product  of  the  w    ^^^^^__^^.^j^  .„3, 

of  eight  years-180C  .^^^^^j^. 

preceded  the  ^^^    «,^,3,,o00-hy  over 

tion  of  silver-viz-,  . 

"r,r:.  out  of  consiaeratio;,  there- 

metals,  the  -^^^^  n'^;;^  ,^0,000  more  for 
-  ^°^'  ^'°"\Tnt<lia  in  both  gold 
monetary  uses  than 


^  1 


114 


KLONBIKE 


and  silver  during  the  eight  years  (on  an 
average)  that  preceded  the  beginning  of 
the  depreciation  of  the  latter  metal. 

**0n  the  supposition  that  silver  has  en- 
tirely ceased  to  bo  coined,  the  world  is 
richer  in  1897  in  material  for  the  coinage 
of  full  legal  tender  or  standard  money 
than  it  was  at  any  former  period  of  the 
world's  history,  and  the  indications  are 
that  it  will  grow  richer  in  this  respect  in 
every  succeeding  year  for  decades  to 
come. 

*'  Hence  my  belief  that  the  first  effect  of 
the  new  additions  of  gold  to  the  stock  al- 
ready in  existence  will  be  an  effect  detri- 
mental to  bimetallism,  whether  national 
or  international.  There  are  some,  I 
know,  who  think  that  the  increased  pro- 
duction of  gold  will  have  the  contrary 
effect  and  that  it  will  lead  to  the  remone- 
tization  of  silver.  They  base  their  argu- 
ment on  this:  that  the  increased  produc- 
tion of  gold  will  be  followed  by  a 
depreciation  of  its  value.     This  mi^ht  be 


r  ■. 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


115 


if  the  new  demand  for  gold  did  not  in- 
crease more  rapidly  than  the  supply.  But 
the  former  is  likely  to  exceed  the  latter. 

NO   LIMIT   TO   TUK    DEMAND    FOR    aOLD. 

**  There  is,  in  fact,  at  the  present  time, 
no  limit  to  the  demand  for  gold,  The  ten- 
dency of  nations  is  toward  the  single  gold 
standard.  Apart  from  the  United  States, 
there  is  not,  I.  believe,  a  country  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  that  would  not  adopt 
gold  monometallism,  if  it  had  the  ability  to 
do  so,  with  silver  as  a  subsidiary  or  token 
coinage.  There  is  not  a  country  in  Eu- 
rope with  any  full  legal  tender  silver  coins 
but  would  replace  them  by  gold  coins,  if  it 
could  do  so  without  too  great  a  sacrifice. 
Germany  would  gladly  put  $100,000,000 
ia  circulation,  instead  of  its  silver  thalers. 
France  and  all  the  countries  of  the  Latin 
Union  would  replace  their  full  legal  tender 
5-franc  pieces  by  gold,  could  they  easily 
get  it.  Russia's  demand  for  gold  is  un- 
bounded.    Austria-Hungary    cannot    get 


m 


116 


KLONDIKE 


enough,  and  so  of  «v 

Europe.    Japa/JX^?"" ''°"°*'-^'« 

«f°^«  an  inclination  to  fl„  '''^°  ^'^'^- 
P'«  °f  its  conqueror  ,;"?  '''^  ''^^■ 
!^-'oftheqnestion.    Tn^::^---. 
'«  crying  for  gold      ChiV       ^^^  ^""^"'^ 
bia  wants  it.  Per,,  '^'*°*^  "'  Colom- 

"ca   wants   it     r         ,'     ^^nt^al  Ame- 

«trongJaold  of  silver  irf'^''''°°'   ^'"^   ^««' 
«omeness  of  its  p^;    J:     "^  *he  burden. 

h-ghtofitsrateofer.!    ^^'^"    '°    ^''^ 

"More  than  this     Thtraf 
^»°'  gold,  not  onl.l    r     "'"'^"'•^P" 
^ar  material,  for  L    .  ""y'   "^"t  as 

derstand  that  goH     /  m    ""^  '^"'"^  *»  "n- 

money-is  the  si;:;tf'r'"-'"'^^°^ 

h''^  «  gold  fund  loele/u'     """^"""^ 
and  the  accu«u,,,*  J  "P- a  fortress, 

by  other  governmen  *  '»*'*«'  made 

^-nt  Pufposra:r:;rr^  ^°^  ^'^■ 

-J  material.  Which  thetti;t;°^«-'> 

' "" '"°-  '^'■^^-e  --th  thir  L!;:r 


V    i. 


AND  ;i.LL   ABOUT   IT. 


ii7 


with  a  standing  army  or  a  navy.  And 
where  no  such  fund  can  be  actually  pointed 
to,  as  in  England,  there  is  felt  the  confi- 
dence that  it  can  be  had  at  any  time  on 
the  credit  of  the  nation.  Then  it  must  be 
remembered  that  all  great  loans  are  now 
made  and  must  be  made  in  gold.  Only 
home  loans  are  made  in  any  other  me- 
dium. This  disposes  of  the  contention 
that  there  is  likely  to  be  any  depreciation 
in  the  value  of  gold  consequent  on  the  in- 
creased supply. 

AS  TO   PRICES. 

"  Will  the  new  additions  to  the  gold  stock 
of  the  world  have  any  effect  on  prices? 
Should  the  increase  of  the  world's  produc- 
tion due  to  tlie  yield  of  gold  in  the  Klon- 
dike district,  as  well  as  iii  the  Transvaal, 
be  any  way  near  as  large  as  that  due  to 
the  mines  of  California  and  Australia  in 
the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  dis- 
covery of  the  metal  in  those  countries,  it 
probably  will,   in   time,   especially  if  tho 


tgmmk 


118 


KLONDIKE 


new  additions  bear  the  same  proportion  to 
the  already  existing  stock  of  gold  in  the 
world  as  did  those  of  California  and  Aus- 
tralia. But  any  increase  of  prices  that 
may  thereby  be  caused  will  be  gradual 
and  may  not  be  noticed  for  some  years  to 
come.  It  cannot  be  noticed  until  gold  be- 
gins to  depreciate  in  value,  and  of  that 
there  is  no  present  prospect. 

"  Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  and  Australia  there  was  a  very 
marked  rise  in  the  general  leve^  of  prices, 
which  writers  on  the  subject  have  gene- 
rally attributed  to  the  decline  of  the  value 
of  gold  at  that  time.  French  publicists 
were  the  first  to  call  attention  to  this  phe- 
nomenon. This  was  in  1851,  1852,  and 
1853.  Chevalier  wrote  about  it  in  1857. 
In  1858  another  eminent  French  writer 
published  a  book,  entitled  'The  Question 
of  Gold,^  in  which  he  showed  the  great- 
ness of  the  rise  and  the  consequences,  fa- 
vorable or  otherwise,  which  it  might  have 
for  individuals  or  for  states.     The  follow- 


n 


XT^B  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


lit* 


i,g  year  ChevaUer  took     1^^^^^^^^^^^. 

,,ew  and  -deavo-a  to  f  o         ^^^^  ^^^^.^^ 
^ercialandsocaleffiectew        ^^^^^^     ^^ 

England  several  staU        ^^^  ^^^^  ^.^^^ 
same  depre«aU°n  ^bo  ^^^^^^^  .^ 

Ilewmarch  and  ^^^^  jcmonstrated 

But  in  lSO-.>  Stanley  Jevon^^^^^^^.^ 

"  lu  his  ;^^f '     ;rtained  and  its  Social 
Value  of  Gold  ^^''  ,  later  De 

i„g  power  of  money^  ^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^e- 

"^^^^^'^^'fasuldenandextraordi- 

dining  there  ^-^^^l       ,    «£  the  metal, 
nary  increase  m  he -PPy^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

Fvom  1831  to    840  the       ^^^^^^^^  .,,^,80 

tod  not  e-'=-'^«'''  t,8,,000.     From  1841 
kilogrammes,  or  ^J^'j,,,^,  deposits  o£ 

tol850,a£t.rtherKlam  .^^^^^^tol 

the  Ural,  and  espeuajy  ^^^^^^^^, 

begun  to  be  worked,  tho 


't 


p  ■ 
li  - 


i*  '*' 


i    '  1 


120 


KLONDIKE 


product  rose  to  54,759  kilogrammes,  or 
$36,393,000.  The  annual  average  was  ab- 
ruptly raised  by  the  discovery  of  the  gold 
diggings  of  California  and  Australia  to 
199,388 kilogrammes,  or  $132,513,000,  from 
1851  to  1855,  and  to  an  annual  average  of 
101,750  kilogrammes,  or  $134,083,000,  from 
1856  to  1860.  The  production  subsequently 
averaged  185,057  kilogrammes,  or  $122,- 
989,000,  from  1861  to  1865,  and  195,026 
kilogrammes,  or  $129,614,000,  from  1866 
to  1870.  From  1493,  that  is,  from  the  dis- 
covery of  America,  until  1850 — that  is,  in 
three  hundred  and  fifty-seven  years — the 
quantity  produced  was  4,752,070  kilo- 
grammes, or  $3,158,223,000.  From  1851 
to  1870,  in  twenty  years,  the  quantity  of 
gold  produced  was  3,905,205  kilogrammes, 
or  $2,595,996,000.  This  newly  extracted 
gold,  therefore,  represented  more  than 
eighty-two  per  cent  of  the  production  an- 
terior to  1850,  and  more  than  forty-five 
per  cent  of  the  total  production  after  1493. 
**  It  is  easy  to  see  that  such  a  revolution 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


121 


in  the  conditions  of  production  caused  a 
decline  of  gold  which  became  manifest  in 
a  rise  of  prices. 

*'  The  rise  of  prices  was  general  at  first. 
In  1858,  according  to  Levasseur,  the  price 
of  wheat,  compared  with  its  price  in  1848, 
had  doubled;  the  price  of  natural  products, 
compared  with  the  price  in  1847,  had  in- 
creased 67.19  per  cent;  the  price  of  manu- 
factured articles,  compared  with  that  of 
1847,  had  risen  14.94  per  cent;  the  average 
prices  of  all  commodities  had  increased 
41.61  per  cent.  The  learned  writer  took 
care  to  remark  that  the  rise  of  prices  was 
not  due  exclusively  to  the  decline  of  goW. 
He  admitted,  in  the  first  place,  that  war 
and  famine  had  caused  a  rise  of  about 
twenty  per  cent  in  the  prices  of  natural 
as  distinguished  from  manufactured  pro- 
ducts, and  of  two  per  cent  in  manufactured 
products,  and  that,  besides,  speculation  in 
1856  had  swollen  all  prices  to  the  extent 
of  five  per  cent.  Leaving  out  of  considera- 
tion these  transitory  causes,  natural  pro- 


122 


KLONDIKPi 


ducts  had  increased,  in  1858,  by  42.19  per 
cent,  manufactured  products  by  7. 94  per 
cent,  all  commodities  considered  as  a  whole 
by  an  average  of  twenty-five  per  cent. 
From  this  rise  of  25  per  cent  it  was  neces- 
sary to  deduct  5  per  cent  in  order  to  take 
into  account  the  effects  of  the  development 
of  industry  and  of  the  increase  of  the  num- 
ber of  consumers.  As  a  final  result  he 
found  that  the  greater  abundance  of  gold 
had  caused  a  rise  of  20  per  cent  in  prices. 
The  decline  in  the  value  of  money  thus 
amounted  to  16.67  per  cent. 

"  In  1863  Stanley  Jevons  reached  a  con- 
clusion almost  the  same.  He  believed  that 
the  decline  of  gold  could  not  be  less  than 
15  per  cent,  and  that  it  might  be  more. 
In  1863,  or  thereabouts,  the  consequences 
of  the  decline  began  to  be  less  apparent 
than  in  1858.  The  general  rise  of  prices 
was  succeeded  by  movements  of  a  very 
different  kind.  Several  causes,  which  M. 
Levasseur  had  already  drawn  attention  to, 
began  either  to  counteract  or  to  strengthen 


Ir- 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


123 


the  effects  of  the  plentifulness  of  the  stan- 
dard metal,  so  that  in  the  case  of  certain 
commodities  there  came  a  decline  instead 
of  a  rise,  while  in  others  the  decline  be- 
came greater  still. 

''  In  1873,  when  M.  de  Foville  published 
the  results  of  his  investigations  concern- 
ing prices,  the  movement,  which  in  1850 
was  faintly  outlined,  became  very  marked 
and  well  defined.  That  writer  showed 
that  the  prices  of  1873  presented,  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  half  a  century  before, 
a  rise  of  90  per  cent  for  foods  of  animal 
origin,  of  30  per  cent  for  vegetable  foods, 
and  45  per  cent  for  domestic  liquors.  He 
showed,  on  the  other  hand,  a  decline  of 
prices  of  35  per  cent  for  mineral  products, 
of  50  per  cent  for  textiles,  and  45  per 
cent  for  chemical  products,  glassware, 
and  paper. 

''  By  a  combination  of  the  rises  and  de- 
clines of  prices,  according  to  the  method 
which  he  called  that  of  budget  averages, 
M.  de  Foville  came  to  the  conclusion  that 


* 


n 


124 


KLONDIKE 


there  had  been  an  increase  of  ^"^ 
in  the  prices  of  n  ?  ^  ^^^  ^^nt 

«  prices  of  commodities,   corresnnn^ 
^ng  to  a  decrease  of  25  per  cent  in  fT 
chasing  power  of  money'romThr  '"' 
mO-25  to  1870-75.  ^^  ^^^'^^ 

I^UBCHASING  POWER. 

o/ao'^iill'^"^'-^^''*-*-  this  period 

txeoiea   as  compared  with  th^  ^^9 
years  between  U93  and  1825.     Thetuaf 
.t.es  produced  amounted  in  1835  to  30" 

"0  kilogran^mes,  or  13,009,558,000  and  f 
lo7o  to  9  ^9'^  rnn  i  -i  >""^,  ana  m 

-,  that  this  derrlS    ~;t'°:- 
-'as  due  to  a  conzbination  of  causes  „7" 

iQ'v-  ^  -Detween   1825  anrl 

political  revolution,      IT  ^°  '"°'* 

nl„*-       •       "'"^'^s-     To  describe  the  rev 
o>ut,on  ,ust  referred  to  would  be  to  write" 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


126 


[r- 


the  industrial,  commercial,  financial,  and 
monetary  history  of  those  50  years. 

"  Judging  from  the  effect  of  the  gold  dis- 
coveries in  California  and  Australia  in 
gradually  raising  general  prices  from 
1850  to  1873,  or  thereabouts,  it  would  be 
only  natural  to  conclude  that  the  effect 
of  the  now  rapidly  increasing  additions 
made  annually  to  the  world's  product  in 
the  Transvaal,  Australia,  the  United 
States,  Russia,  and  in  the  Klondike  dis- 
trict would  have  a  similar  effect,  provid- 
ing they  bore  something  like  the  same  pro- 
portion to  the  already  existing  stock  of 
gold  as  did  those  of  California  and  Aus" 
tralia  to  the  stock  already  on  hand  in  1850. 
Since  1871  the  production  of  gold  has  been 
about  6,500.000  kilogrammes,  or  $3,455,- 
920,000,  or  will  be  by  the  end  of  the  pres- 
ent year.  Since  1880  alone,  the  product 
has  been  about  2,718,000  kilogrammes,  or 
$1,806,383,000.  The  gold  product  from 
1886  to  1897  has  been  nearly  25  per  cent 
of  the  total  output  of  the  gold  mines  of 


I2fi 


KLONDIKE 


the  world  from  1493  to  1885,  and  the  total 
product  of  gold  from  1871  to  1897  has 
been  approximately  60  per  cent  of  the 
world's  product  of  that  metal  from  the 
discovery  of  America  to  1870. 

"  Such  an  enormous  production  of  gold 
since  1870  would  lead  one  to  believe  that 
there  would  necessarily  bo  caused  thereby 
a  great  rise  of  prices.  But  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  contrary  has,  on  the  whole,  been 
the  case.  A  general  decline  of  prices  be- 
gan in  1873,  and,  notwithstanding  the  vast 
increase  in  the  world's  stock  of  gold  just 
referred  to,  the  decline  still  continues. 
Economists  and  statisticians  of  great 
rr.t}rit  believe  that  this  general  decline  is 
due  to  what  they  call  the  appreciation  of 
gold,  although  how  there  can  be  an  ap- 
preciation of  gold  when  the  world's  output 
of  the  metal  since  1871  has  been  about 
sixty  per  cent  of  its  total  product  from  1493 
to  1870  they  do  not  explain. 

"  This  vast  increase  in  the  gold  stock  of 
the  world  has  found  expression  in  the  low- 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


127 


ness  of  the  rate  of  discount,  in  the  facility 
with  which  municipalities  and  states  ef- 
fect loans  of  great  magnitude  at  a  rate  of 
interest  lower  than  ever  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  and  in  the  vast  accu- 
mulation of  gold  and  silver  bullion  in  the 
great  banks  of  the  world.  The  fact  that 
prices  have  not  risen  as  a  consequence  of 
the  increase  is  undoubted  evidence  that 
the  causes  of  their  decline  have  their  source 
elsewhere  than  in  the  scarcity  of  gold  or 
of  money  in  general.  For,  as  remarked 
above,  there  is  now  more  gold  available 
for  monetary  purposes  than  there  was 
gold  and  silver  before  the  decline  of  prices 
began.  Not  only  this,  but  the  substitutes 
for  money  with  which  every  business  man 
is  familiar  have  vastly  increased  sinco  1873. 
With  the  development  of  credit  that  now 
obtains  in  the  world  the  quantity  of  the 
media  of  circulation  can  have  no  control- 
ling influence  on  the  prices  of  commodi- 
ties. 

I  know  it  w  almost  a  despairing  view  to 


(C 


128 


KLONDIKE 


take  that,  notwithstanding  the  vast  addi- 
tions yearly  making  to  the  gold  stock  of 
the  world,  there  is  no  immediate  prospect 
of  a  general  rise  in  prices  from  that  cause; 
and  yet,  considering  the  simple  fact  that 
the  addition  to  the  world's  gold  stock  since 
1871  has  been  nearly  sixty  per  cent  of  the 
world's  output  of  that  metal  from  the  dis- 
covery of  America  up  to  1870,  and  that  the 
product  since  1886  up  to  the  end  of  1897 
(an  estimate  of  $240,000,000  being  made 
for  that  year)  was  nearly  twenty-five  per 
cent  of  the  total  product  from  1493  to  1885, 
I  can  reach  no  other  conclusion.  The 
great  addition  to  the  world's  stock  of  gold 
since  1873  is  a  demonstrated  fact,  but  so 
also  is  the  continued  decliDo  in  prices. 

"  The  advocates  of  silver  maintain  that 
the  decline  is  due  to  the  demonetization  of 
that  metal  and  the  consequent  scarcity  of 
money.  Yet  money  was  never  more  plen- 
tiful, rates  of  discount  and  interest  never 
lower,  accumulation  in  the  banks  never 
greater. 


i 


I  I 


AND   ALL  ABOUT   IT. 


129 


"These  facta  conclusively  refute  their 
contention. 

"  May  not  the  true  cause  be  found  in  the 
stability  of  the  value  of  gold — the  most 
desirable  quality  in  a  money  metal — and 
in  the  improvement  in  technical  processes 
and  the  cheapening  of  transportation — an 
improve  ment  and  a  cheapening  still  going 
on — as  well  as  in  the  almost  universal  sub- 
stitution of  machine  for  human  labor  ?  " — 
B.  E.  Preston,  Director  of  the  Mint  at 
Washington,  in  Neiv  York  Herald. 


NEW    GOLD   FIELDS. 

Among  the  miners  who  are  outfitting 
for  the  Klondike  is  Mr.  M.  T.  Fitzgerald. 
Replying  to  an  inquiry  about  the  North- 
west Territories,  he  said:  **The  Klondike 
is  but  a  speck  on  the  map  of  that  great 
gold  country.  Last  season  I  spent  six 
months  in  the  Peace  River  country  in  the 
interest  of  the  Forty-third  Mining  Com- 
pany of  Ottawa,  going  in  the  capacity  of 
a  prospector.     Our    exploring    party  in- 


130 


KLONDIKE 


eluded  thirty- one  men  and  sixty- three- 
horses.  Ashcroft,  British  Columbia,  on 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad,  was  the 
starting  point,  thence  over  the  Cariboo 
wagon  road  to  the  Quesnelle  River,  two 
hundred  and  twenty  miles.  Crossing 
Upper  Frazer  River,  we  travelled  north- 
westerly, following  the  old  telegraph  trail 
to  Stewart  Lake,  stopping  at  Fort  St. 
James,  200  miles  from  Quesnelle  and  430 
miles  from  Ashcroft. 

*'  We  struck  the  gold,  country  at  Horse- 
fly, and  were  in  it  the  rest  of  the  journey. 
Crossing  Stewart  Lake  at  Fort  James,  we 
took  the  trail  to  Manson  Creek,  travelling 
150  miles  to  the  Omineca  country,  where 
Col.  Wright,  of  Ottawa,  and  Capt.  Black, 
of  Victona,  are  opening  up  large  hydrau- 
lic mines  for  their  respective  companies. 
Hero  coarse  gold  is  found  together  with 
nuggets  of  silver,  being  the  only  place  in 
America  outside  of  Mexico  where  silver 
in  this  form  has  been  discovered.  Camp- 
ing at  Black  Jack,  we    prospected  the- 


AND   ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


131 


,,,Y.hpr  of  locations 

"  Breaking  camp^J-^^^,  „,e.- 

•— ^*^.°"::::irg  north  ^^On.ile. 
plored  region,  trajelUS  ^^^^^^^^^^ 

^^""rrr'ou       nitial     ^^^-    TWb 
of    Ashcroft      our  ^.^^^  ^^„„t,y, 

brought  us  mto  the  ^  ^^^^ 

prospecUng  and  looatmg  ^^    ^^^^^^ 

"We  took    up  ^500  ^^  ^ 

ground    along   the   P^^^^^        ^  ^„,k  and 

'«^^^  ^^  ^^  n:o%t;:pttoo  to  the 

found  *«f  ;;,^t IC  Ltances  as  high 
cubic  yard,  ->>d  «J  The  largest  re- 

^  $6C0  were  obtained.  ^^^^ 

,,,Hs  were  obtained  on^^ej  ^^  ^^^^^ 
,,egoldiBCoar^and^-^^^    «- 

^^'^''^'t'Jto  S18.    Pea-eBiveriB 
worth  from  «16  to  *  Q„esnelle, 

.^ut  the  B-^/-;;  ,J,g    east, 
fully  half    a   mile    wi  ^^^^^^ 

through  a  low  country,  for 


I: 


m 


Hi 


132 


KLONDIKE 


fully  1,500  miles,  into  the  Great  Slave, 
with  its  source  on  the  eastern  slope  of 
what  we  termed  spurs  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  far  south  of  the  Klondike 
and  Stewart  Rivers.  It  will  be  the  first 
county  to  receive  the  overflow  from  Klon- 
dike and  Yukon,  and  its  record  will 
prove  interesting. 

*' While  the  season  is  short,  like  that  of 
the  Klondike,  there  are  some  advantages 
possessed  over  that  country.  The  ground 
never  freezes  to  such  depth,  and  mining  is 
much  easier.  What  is  known  as  the  Arc- 
tic Divide  lies  south  of  the  Peace  River, 
"but  the  vegetation  grows  quite  rank  in 
the  few  short  months  of  summer.  Such 
vegetables  as  turnips,  onions,  and  ra- 
dishes have  been  grown  along  the  shores 
of  Stewart  Lake. 

"  A  wandering  band  of  Indians  known 
as  Foxes,  very  peacefully  disposed,  live 
in  this  country,  trapping  and  hunting  Tor 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  I  purpose 
prospecting    the     country    between    the 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


133 


Klondike  and  Peace  rivers,  and  I  will  go 
out  well  prepared  for  the  journey.  The 
Northwest  Territories  are  now  surprising 
the  world,  and  they  have  still  greater 
surprises  in  store." — Nerv  York  Sun. 


PROP.    EMMONS  ON  KLONDIKE. 

The  Klondike  placer  mines  are  only 
gathering  the  dust  washed  off  Nature's 
great  gold  reserve  in  the  Alaskan  Moun- 
tains. This  dust  is  found  in  the  f,ravel  of 
the  little  streams.  It  comes  from  a  forma- 
tion called  the  conglomerate,  which  is  in- 
comparably richer  in  nuggets  and  particles 
of  gold  than  the  gravel. 

When  the  miners  find  it  no  longer  profit- 
abi'*  to  wash  out  the  gravel,  they  can  at- 
tack the  conglomerate,  where  they  will  bo- 
able  to  accomplish  something  by  hand 
l^hor. 

Finally,  there  is  the  original  source  of 
gold — the  veins  in  the  hills.  These  must 
be  of  enormous  value.     They  must  lie  un- 


Il.'i 


f 


134 


KLONDIKE 


til 


touched   until  the  proper  machineiy  for 
obtaining  the  gold  is  erected. 

A  clear,  scientific,  and  authoritative  ex- 
planation of  the  geological  conditions  of 
the  Klondike  and  neighboring  gold-bear- 
ing rocks  is   ;    ^~  here. 

It  was  f urms^.  i  by  Professor  S.  F.  Em- 
mons, of  the  United  States  Geological  Sur- 
vey, who  also-  made  a  rough  sketch  illus- 
trating the  formation  of  the  gold-bearing 
rocks  and  soil,  on  which  the  accompanying 
picture  was  based. 

Professor  Emmons  said: 

*'The  real  mass  of  golden  wealth  in 
Alaska  remains  as  yet  untouched.  It  lies 
in  the  virgin  rocks,  from  which  the  parti- 
cles found  in  the  river  gravels  now  being 
washed  by  the  Klondike  miners  have  been 
torn  bv  the  erosion  of  streams.  These 
particles,  being  heavy,  have  been  deposited 
by  the  streams  which  carried  the  lighter 
matter  on  yard  to  the  ocean,  thus  forming 
by  gradual  accumulation  a  sort  of  aurife- 
rous concentrate.     Many  of  the  bits,  espe- 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


135 


cially  in  certain  localities,  are  big  enough 
to  be  called  nuggets. 

"  In  spots  the  gravels  are  so  rich  that,  as 
we  have  all  heard,  many  ounces  of  the  yel- 
low metal  are  obtained  from  the  washing 
of  a  single  panful.  That  is  what  is  making 
the  people  so  wild — the  prospect  of  picking 
money  out  of  the  dirt  by  the  handful  lite- 
rally. 

^'  But  all  this  is  merely  the  skimming  of 
grease  from  the  pot;  the  soup  remains,  and 
precious  lich  soup  it  is.  The  bulk  of  the 
wealth  is  in  the  rocks  of  the  hills,  waiting 
only  for  proper  machinery  to  take  it  out. 
For  you  must  remember  that  the  gold  was 
originally  stored  in  veins  of  the  rocks, 
which  are  of  an  exceedingly  ancient  for- 
mation. Nobody  can  say  how  many  mil- 
lions of  years  ago  the  metal  was  put  there, 
but  it  must  have  been  an  enormously  long 
time  back. 

*'  The  streams  wore  away  the  rocks, 
carrying  gold  with  them,  and  this  process 
continued  for  ages,  making  immense  de- 


136 


KLONDIKE 


posits  of  rich,  gold-bearing  gravels.  Even- 
tually these  deposits  were  themselves 
transformed  into  rock — a  sort  of  conglo- 
merate in  which  pebbles  small  and  big  are 
mixed  with  what  was  once  sand.  To-day 
the  strata  composed  of  this  conglomerate 
are  of  immense  extent  and  unknown  thick- 
ness. The  formation  closely  resembles 
that  of  the  auriferous  '  banket '  or  pud- 
ding stone  of  the  South  African  gold 
fields;  but  the  South  African  pudding 
stone  was  in  far  remote  antiquity  a  sea 
beach,  whereas  the  Alaskan  formation  is 
a  deposit  made  b;  streams,  as  I  have  said. 
*'  In  a  later  epoch  the  stream  continued 
to  gnaw  away  at  the  hills,  bringing  down 
more  gold  and  leaving  it  behind  in  the 
gravels  of  their  bottoms.  It  is  these  com- 
paratively modern  rivers  which  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  pay  dirt  of  the  Klondike 
district  and  of  all  that  region.  Naturally , 
because  it  was  easily  got  at  and  worked^ 
the  miners  l\ave  struck  this  surface  allu- 
vium first.     The  streams  at  various  times 


AND  AIL  ABOUT  IT. 


137 


have  followed  differeat  courses,  and  it  is 
in  the  gravels  of  the  dry  and  disused  chaa- 
nels  that  the  gold  miners  dig  with  such 
fabulous  profit. 

"  You  will  observe  from  what  I  have 
said  that  the  gold  of  that  region  exists 
under  three  widely  different  conditions — 
in  the  gravels,  in  the  conglomerate  or  pud- 
ding stone,  and  in  the  ancient  rocks  of  the 
hills.  When  the  modern  stream  deposits, 
now  being  worked,  are  used  up,  the  miner 
can  tackle  the  conglomerate,  which  repre- 
sents the  gravels  of  ages  ago.  Finally, 
when  they  are  provided  with  the  requisite 
machinery,  they  will  be  in  a  position  to 
attack  the  masses  of  yellow  wealth  that 
are  stored  in  the  veins  of  the  mountains. 
At  present  we  can  hardly  consider  that 
the  first  bite  has  been  taken  of  the  golden 
feast  which  Alaska  offers  to  hungry  man.'' 
— New  York  Journal, 


i 


138 


KLONDIKE 


M" 


I.       Ki 


THE   CLIMATE. 

The  climate  is  described  in  a  recent  cir- 
cular issued  by  the  Government  Weather 
Bureau  at  Washington.  The  data  and 
observations  were  obtained  from  the 
United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey- 
after  six  months  of  work  on  the  Yukon, 
not  far  from  the  site  of  the  recent  gold 
discoveries. 

Alaska  is  described  as  a  land  of  striking 
contrasts  in  both  climate  and  topography. 
When  the  sun  shines  the  atmosphere  is 
remarkably  cloar  and  the  scenic  effects 
are  magnificent. 

The  climate  in  the  interior,  including 
practically  all  of  the  country  except  a 
narrow  fringe  of  coast  margin,  is  one  of 
extreme  rigor  in  winter,  with  a  brief  but 
relatively  hot  summer. 

In  the  Klondike  region  in  midwinter 
the  sun  rises  from  9:30  to  10  a.m.  and 
sets  from  2  to  3  p.m.,  the  total  length  of 
daylight  being  about  four  hours.      The 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


139 


,,    ,  rises  but  a  few  degrees  above 
^un  then  rises  o  ^^^^^^^   ^^ 

the  horizon,  and  is  wuoiiy 

many  days,  ^  g^^^^es 

ous  cold  occurred  in  r  ^^_ 

the  daUy  mean  temp-t^ejor^j^^     ^^^ 
.ecutive  days  >vas  47^1-^^^^^^ 
closed    season  of   188J 

days.  f  ^^j^    months 

The  mean  temperature  ot  t 

f.om  October,  1889,  to  Aprd  1800^ J 

October,  33"  ^^^'^ ^nl^  In^.ry, 

above;   December,   U     belo 

ir  below;  February,  15    belo    , 

it^ril    20    above,     ine  i""" 
6"  above;  April,  ^o 
temperature  registered  was  59   below 

in  January.  ^^^^  j^ 

■Headway   during   one  oi 
passes,      lieaaw  y  traveller  who 


140 


KLONDIKK 


M 


with  his  life.  Snowstorms  oi  great  seve- 
rity may  occur  in  any  month  from  Sep- 
tember to  May. 

The  changes  of  temperature  from  winter 
to  summer  are  rapid.  In  May  the  sun 
rises  at  3  a.m.  and  sets  at  9  p.m.  In  June 
it  rises  at  1:30  A.M.  and  sets  at  10:30  p.m., 
giving  twenty  hours  of  daylight  and  dif- 
fuse twilight  ill  the  remainder  of  the  time, 

The  mean  summer  temperature  of  the 
interior  ranges  between  C0°  and  70°,  ac^ 
cording  to  elevation. — N.  Y.  World. 

GOLD   FACTS. 

The  first  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Klon- 
dike was  made  in  the  middle  of  August, 
1896,  by  George  Cormack. 

The  only  way  into  and  out  of  the  Klon- 
dike in  winter  is  by  way  of  Juneau. 

The  only  way  to  live  is  to  imitate  the 
Indians  in  dress  and  habit.  It  is  useless- 
to  wear  leather  or  gum  boots.  Good  moc-^ 
casins  are  absolutely  necessary. 

The  colder  it  is  the  better  the  travelling.. 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


141 


AVhen  it  is  very  cold  there  is  no  wind,  and 
the  wind  is  hard  to  bear. 

Indian  guides  are  necessary,  to  go  ahead 
of  the  dogs  and  prepare  the  camp  for 
night. 

In  the  summer  the  sun  rises  early  and 
sets  late,  and  there  are  only  a  few  hours 
when  it  is  not  shining  directly  on  Alaska. 

In  the  winter  the  sun  shines  for  a  short 
time  only  each  day. 

It  is  2,500  miles  from  San  Francisco  to 
St.  Michaers. 

It  is  1,895  miles  from  St.  Michael's  to 
Dawson  City. 

In  summer  the  weather  is  warm  and 
tent  life  is  comfortable.  The  winter  lasts 
nine  months. 

There  are  two  routes  by  which  to  reach 
Dawson  City — one  by  St.  Michael's  Island 
and  the  other  via  Juneau. 

By  steamer  it  costs  $150  to  go  irom 
Frisco  to  Dawson  City. 

Dogs  are  worth  their  weight  in  gold.     A 


142 


KLONDIKE 


good  long-haired  dog  sells  from  $150  ta 
$200. 

Skates  might  be  used  to  good  advantage 
at  times. 

The  Yukon  River  is  closed  by  ice  from 
November  to  the  latter  part  of  May. 

On  the  Klondike  the  thermometer  goes 
as  low  as  60°  below  zero. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  berries  to  be 
found  all  through  the  country  in  summer. 

Game  is  very  scarce.  Vegetables  of  the 
hardier  sort  can  be  raised. 

Stock  can  be  kept  by  using  care  in  pro- 
viding abundantly  with  feed  by  ensilage 
or  curing  natural-grass  hay  and  by  hous- 
ing them  in  the  winter. 

In  summer  abundance  of  green  grass 
can  be  found  near  the  rivers. 

In  appearance  the  natives  are  like  the 
North  American  Indians,  only  more  lithe 
and  active,  with  very  small  feet  and 
hands. 

Gold  was  first  discovered  in  the  vicinity 


AND  ALL  ABOUT  IT. 


143 


of  Sitka  by  Frank  Mahoney,  Edward 
Doyle,  and  William  Dunlay  in  1873. 

The  first  American  traders  to  engage 
in  the  Yukon  trade  were  members  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  expedition. 

With  the  first  breath  of  spring  the  up- 
river  people  prepare  for  their  annual 
meeting  with  their  friends  from  the  out- 
side world. 

At  a  distance  of  600  miles  from  the 
ocean  the  Yukon  River  is  more  than  a 
mile  wide. 

The  Klondike  mining  region  is  in  the 
latitude  of  Iceland  and  lower  Greenland. 

The  longitude  of  St.  Michael's  is  further 
west  than  that  of  Honolulu. — San  Fran^ 
Cisco  Examiner, 


Tl 


[imelg  Boots  oo  iDiniiig  am  petallorgii. 


EnglncefS*  Pocket  Book,  Giving  Tables,  Rules,  and  Form'ilas  pertain- 
ing to  Mechanics,  Matbaemtics,  auC  Pliysics,  Architecture,  Masonry, 
Steam  Vessels,  Mills,  Limes,  Mortars,  Cements,  etc.  By  Charles  H. 
Haswell,  Civil,  Marine,  and  Mecii*2iical  Engineer.  900  pages. 
Leather,  pocket-book  form |4  00 

The  liineral  Industry,  (Annual),    ^.u  Encyclopaedia  of  Mining  aud 

Metallurgy. 

Vol.  L       From  earliest  times  to  the  end  of  1892. 2  50 

Vol.  IL     Supplementing  Vol.  I  to  the  end  of  1893 5  00 

Vol.  IIL    Supplementing  Vols.  I-II  to  the  end  of  1894 5  00 

Vol.  IV.     Supplementing  Vols.  I  III  to  the  end  of  1895 5  00 

Vol.  V.      Supplementing  Vols.  I-IV  to  the  end  of  1896 5  00 

Stamp  Milling  of  Cold  Ores.    By  T.  A.  Rickard 2  50 

Modern  Copper  Smelting.    By  E.  D.  Peters,  Jr 5  00 

Matte  Smelting.    By  Herbert  Lang 2  00 

Copper  Matting  and  Converting  and  Lead  Smelting:.    By  H.  W.  Hizon,  8  oo 
The  Metallurgy  of  Lead.    By  H.  0.  HofEman 6  00 

The  Metallurgy  of  Steel.    By  Henry  M.  Howe 10  00 

Manufacture  and  Properties  of  Structural  Steel.    By  H.  H.  Campbell. .  4  GO 

Civil  Engineers'  Focket  Book  of  Mensuration,  Trigonometry,  Survey- 
ing, Hydraulics,  Hydrostatics,  Instruments  and  their  Adjustments, 
Strength  of  Materials,  Masonry,  Principles  of  Wooden  and  Iron 
Roof  and  Bridge  Trusses^  Stone  Bridges  and  Culverts,  Trestles, 
Pillars,  Suspension  Bridges,  Dams,  Railroads,  Turnouts,  Turning 
Platforms,  Water  Stations,  Cost  of  Earthwork,  Foundations,  Re. 
tainiug  Walls,  etc.  In  addition  to  which  the  Elucidation  of  certain 
Amportant  Principles  of  Construction  is  made  in  a  more  simple 
manner  than  heretofore.  By  J.  C.  Trautwine,  C.E.  Twenty-first 
thousjind,  revised  and  enlarged,  with  new  illustrations,  by  J.  C. 
Trautwine,  Jr.,  C.E.  12mo,  morocco  flaps,  gilt  edges.  Fifteenth 
edition.     Fortieth  thousand,  1891 6  00 

Ore  Deposits  of  the  I'nlted  States,   By  J.  F.  Kemp 4  00 

Manual  of  Qualitative  Blowpipe  Analysis.    By  F.  M.  Endlich 4  00 

Outline  of  Qualitative  Chemical  Analysis.    By  J.  A.  Miller i  50 

Systematic  Mineralogy.    By  Thomas  Stcrry  Hunt 5  00 

The  Canadian  Ice  Age.    By  Sir  J.  William  Dawson 2  00 

Minlnff  and  General  Telegraphic  Code.    By  Bedford  McNeill 7  60 

Any  ot  tb«  above  books  sent  prepaid  on  receipt  of  price, 

^'^'  Excelsior  Publishing  House, 

T.  J.  CAREY  &  CO.,  Proprietors,  26  City  Hall  Place,  New  York. 


mi. 


rtain- 
onry, 

3SH. 

ages. 

• • .    $4  00 

....  2  50 
. . . .  5  00 
. . . .  5  00 
• . . .  5  00 
...  5  00 
...     2  50 

5  00 

.  . .  2  00 
son,  3  00 

6  00 

.  ..10  00 
}11..  4  00 
ey- 

LtS, 

■on 
es, 

u'. 

iln 
)le 

rst 
C. 
th 


6  00 
4  00 
4  00 

1  50 

6  00 

2  00 

7  50 


;  c 


$6, 

York. 


iitoMflKflBh 


